Here I am sharing an F-1 visa renewal experience of a
master’s graduate student continuing to PhD where a student was eligible for
the dropbox method and later given a 221G with a follow-up interview:
1 The F1 visa is offered to students who want to pursue a
degree in any US institution.
2 Students who acquired admission letters from US university
should start applying for F1 student visa at least two months prior to the
semester start date at the desired university.
3 The visa procedure includes an interview which is given by
the student at a US VISA consular office in their home country.
4 For the Visa interview, a few documents should be shown to
the visa officer as a proof that the student is capable to study abroad, and
he/she has enough funding sources to complete the degree.
5 The visa interview includes document verification and
fingerprint scanning which is mandatory for all visa types
Although the visa procedure is well-informed, it comes with a lot of unknown circumstances which are difficult to be managed. After five years of my first visa experience, I was required to renew my visa as it was about to expire in under six months. I also was visiting my home country, so it was a compulsion to renew my visa.
Here is my visa experience:
·
I am pursuing my PhD in the same university
where I did my master's so there was no change on my SEVIS number on my I20
document initially generated for my master’s degree.
·
Since I had no change on my SEVIS number,
maintained a continuous F-1 visa status throughout, applying for the same
university, visa extension for me was through a dropbox process.
·
I had to fill out a new DS-160 and a new visa
application form online on US consulate website. Once I filled out my information,
I was told that I am eligible for dropbox process.
·
Dropbox process is where we drop off our
documents through a teller at the consular office and we will be informed about
our visa status online when we log into our account in the US consulate website.
·
When I arrived at the US consulate office in my
home country, I was required to do the ten-print (fingerprint of ten fingers of
both the hands) and then submit the documents.
·
After submission, I was checking my visa status
frequently which showed only submitted status for the first fifteen days.
·
On the sixteenth day, I received a notification on
my email that the status of my visa application has been changed. When I logged
into my US consulate account I observed that my visa status has been changed
from submitted to Administrative processing stage.
·
I received another email in few minutes stating
that I received 221G and I am required to appear for an interview at the
consulate office.
·
At this point of time, I had only five days
before my scheduled departure from my home country back to the USA.
·
I was asked to book a 221G follow-up appointment
through my online account. Typically, the dates for visa interviews will be
filled for up to two months so it was hard for me to believe that I would get
my visa approved by the intended date of travel.
· I received another email in few minutes stating that I received 221G and I am required to appear for an interview at the consulate office.
·
But to my surprise, when I logged into my
account online, the dates for the interview were available from the next day
onwards.
·
So, I booked the earliest interview slot and
attended the interview.
·
The interview process included some basic
questions like the topic of my PhD degree and the intended graduation date and
my progress in the degree till date.
·
I answered all the questions confidently and my
visa was approved on spot and my passport was taken by the consulate officer
for visa printing.
·
My F1 visa was renewed for five years more and I
travelled to USA on the intended date.
Here I am sharing a F-1 visa renewal experience of a
master’s graduate student continuing to PhD where a student was eligible for
the dropbox method and later given a 221G with follow-up interview:
1.
Do not procrastinate the visa renewal process. I
would suggest you start the process as soon as possible as the processing time
greatly differs for individual cases so the estimation of the time is very
difficult.
2.
Check your visa status regularly online as the
status change notification email might get delayed.
3.
Do not take stress about the approval of visa,
in turn, concentrate on submitting the correct documentation.
4.
For F-1 visa renewal, if you have multiple
copies of your I20, submit the latest generated I20 as it might impact the visa
process.
5.
221G for F1 visa is different from 221G for any
other visa status. I would suggest you refer to online groups of your specific
visa status to determine the next steps.
6.
Lastly, I would suggest that you take an approval
letter from your manager or your supervisor for your travel as it might help
validate your trip.
Google Source: F1 visa renewal process for continuing to PhD
0 Comments