Congratulations! You have your US school admissions offer in hand and are ready to take the final step to leaving your home country. There’s only one thing standing in your way of the American dream…” The dreaded visa interview aka Convincing the visa officer that you are worthy of the F-1 student visa”.

Hopefully by the end of this article you are a little less terrified and better prepared for the visa interview process.

If there is one trick to acing the interview, it is knowing that the consular officer is trying to answer one question. “Is your INTENT really to go and obtain an education in the United States“? Or are you using this as a means to immigrate permanently to the US? With this knowledge, your primary goal on your F-1 visa interview day is to show the consular officer that you have only one intent. TO GO TO THE US FOR AN EDUCATION. Period. 

Note: This article is focused primarily on the interview portion of the F-1 visa interview process. Before arriving at the Embassy for your interview, you need to submit a visa application. Ensure you go to the US embassy website of your home country and type in “F-1 student visa application” to find the application requirements (Sample application page).

Some general practical tips.

i) Be on time to your visa appointment. And if you live in an African Country you know that being on time means being early. Act accordingly 😆.

ii) Bring supporting documents. Documents such as your high school or university transcripts (depending on if you’re going to college or graduate school respectively). Acceptance letters from all the schools you were admitted to (and scholarship offers) are really important to have on hand. Basically, any documents you can think of that will help support your potential answers to the questions we propose below.

iii) Answer all questions truthfully. The only caveat to this is to ensure that in your responses you only provide the information that the interviewer asks for. Avoid oversharing, this has been known to lead to a few adverse results.

iv) Be confident and do your best to calm your nerves. Being prepared with answers to the questions listed below will help increase your confidence.

The interview

At the interview here are a few questions the consular officer might ask you.

University Choice

A) Why this University?

A key thing the consular officer is trying to establish when you come into your visa interview is your University choice. What makes this particular university stand out from all the thousands of colleges in America?

It is easier to give an answer if you literally had multiple offers to choose from. Which is why we advise you to apply to several schools. It is much harder to convince the consular officer that your true intent of going to the US is to excel in your chosen field, but you limited your options and applied to 1 school.

Answering the “why this university question?” with weak responses like “I have an Aunt who lives there”… Or “I think the weather there will be good”…. Or “my friend told me about this school..” does nothing but raise red flags to your interviewer. Avoid them at all costs.

B) Why did you choose your course of study?

This question in itself is relatively straightforward. You should talk about your passions and ambitions, and why your chosen course intrigues you. If you are going for a graduate degree in a field that is entirely different from what you did for your undergraduate studies, make sure you can tie the two fields together. For example, imagine your Bachelors’ degree was in Chemistry but you are planning to get a PhD in Biomedical Sciences. Talk about how studying chemistry exposed you to different molecules, and that led to you developing a love for medical sciences. Hence, your interest in a Biomedical Sciences PhD. 

Along these lines of questioning, “Why do you want to study in the US?“ is another common question. Make sure your answer is specific and will showcase how an education in the US will broaden your horizons and equip you in your career.

Fees

C) How do you intend to pay your tuition?

The American School system thrives on you being able to pay your tuition in full. After all, there is a reason the fees are really high. The consular officer needs to know whether you can pay your fees without needing any assistance from the US government. It is important to have estimated your total yearly cost including tuition, fees, living expenses, and health insurance. If you have scholarships or research assistantships, remove these costs from your fees. The remaining balance is what you need to demonstrate that you or your parents have enough funds to cover.

It is important to have proof of at least 2 years worth of finances saved. Anything less demonstrates that you will quickly run out of funds for your studies. If your parents or an extended family member is paying your tuition, you need a letter of support, proof of their current employment, pay-slips, and bank account statements. This demonstrates that said person will continue to have the funds to cover your finances in years to come. 

Quite often, visa officers get answers like “My mother’s brother promised to pay for my tuition many years ago, so they’ll be covering my finances”. However, the student cannot provide any information about what said uncle does, and why said uncle is benevolent. Do your homework and make sure you can answer these questions confidently.

Also, remove responses like “when I arrive on campus I will work to pay my tuition” from your vocabulary. This is an automatic cause for visa refusal. International Students on campus can only work 20 hrs a week legally. At minimum wage rate, which is what jobs on campus typically pay, this is not enough to pay your tuition. 

Ties to your home country

D) What will you do after your studies?

This is not the time to tell the officer that you have been waiting all your life to migrate to the US. This is an automatic visa denial. An F-1 student visa is a non-immigrant visa i.e. it is intended for you to be in the US for a short period and then return to your home country. No matter what your plans are, you need to have a response ready that demonstrates you do intend to come back to your home country. And in fact, your degree will equip you with {insert specific} skills that will solve {insert specific} problems in your country. 

A second part to this question is “do you have any ties to your home country”? Think of ties as something (property, jobs, etc) or someone (parents, spouses, children) that will keep you in your country. If you don’t have any ties you are more likely to abscond and not come back to your country 😆.

In conclusion, as long as you always remember that the consular officer is trying to determine whether your INTENT is really to go and obtain an education in the US, you will ace your visa interview. Practice your responses to these questions, and feel free to practice even more interview questions.

Good luck and we can’t wait to see you on the other side of the visa interview!