If you are looking to pursue your studies in the US, this article takes you through offbeat answers to the F1 visa interview questions and good practices to follow for the interview.

Once you have received an admit and paid the SEVIS fee, you can apply for your US visa and begin preparing for your visa interview. Students applying for all programs both undergraduate and graduate such as MS, MBA, and B.Tech which require more than 18 hours of study in a week are required to apply for an F1 Student Visa in the US.

You must prepare for a successful US F1 visa interview. It needs time and effort, just like with other parts of your US visa application process. This article covers few interesting and offbeat responses to common F-1 visa interview questions.

F1 Visa interview answers

Like all interviews, the F1 visa interview is a formal interaction between the student and the visa counsellor. It is advisable to practice the visa interview questions by yourself before the interview. Read up on your college admission profile, list of universities you applied to, university you have finalised and the city you would be staying in.

*Note: To help in your preparation for your F1 visa interview, Zolve has researched various web forums and interacted with students who have already given the interview. We have compiled a list of interesting F1 visa interview answers to common questions.

Q. Why have you chosen this specific university or college?

Ans: “ The course curriculum and insights program suits my academic and personal interests. It has a consumer research foundation which has yearly funds of more than 100 thousand dollars dedicated for marketing analytics. There is also a lab with unlimited access to students for all big data analytical tools.”

You want to show the Visa officer that you are passionate about the course. You can use a few basic technical terms as well.

Q.What if you aren’t selected under for OPT?

Ans: “ I want to return back to India. I would anyway be researching under professor xx, which should be sufficient to get a job in India in my area of interest. Moreover, I have work experience of 4.5 years and would be easily able to find a job.”

As a student, you should always show intent of returning back to your home country.

Q. Why does your ITR show less than what you said?

Ans: “Certain expenses like education and mediclaim are deducted from the gross income ma'am, (shown on the second page) this is the gross income. ”

It is advisable to understand your finances before the interview, in the above scenario counsellor cross verified the ITR and approved the visa.

Q. Why did you choose to pursue this course? (marketing and analytics)

Ans: “Every year there are thousands of products coming up but out of which only 2 percent of the companies are successful, because they have a strong marketing strategy and also they understand how to use analytical tools on marketing to figure out the consumer needs. It is necessary for me to learn the usage of these analytical tools like predictive analysis.”

The visa officers look for such prompt answers from students.

Q. Which company you would like to get in?

Ans: “Amazon, India. Amazon announced that they are going to invest 20,000 crores in Hyderabad by the end of 2022 for cloud computing which is my area of interest.”

With the above response, the visa officer is also satisfied that the student intends to return to India.

Q. What do your parents do?

Ans: “My father takes care of mango farms which we have in 8 acres and in a prime location. Additionally have a shopping complex with 15 shops in it which is a very good source of income for us. My mother takes care of her own dairy farm. If you are interested, I can get you some mangoes from my farm as well”

Officer laughed off the question and approved the visa later on.

Q. Why do you have so many backlogs?

Ans: “During a certain period of my Bachelor’s degree, I could not find the right balance between my studies and the extra-curricular activities which brought down my GPA. I was also pursuing an off campus internship at that time. However, I have worked hard in the senior years and scored well in the subjects I am interested in.”

Q. How you can prove that you are going to come back?

Ans: “ Currently I am settled in Hyderabad with my mother. I have immovable assets worth Rs 20 lakhs here. My mother is working in andhra bank for 30 yrs. Post completion of my masters I will be back to work as a data scientist.”

The student in the above questions reiterates multiple reasons to show a strong intent to return back to India.

Q. What do you know about the city your university is located in?

Ans: “New york attracts talent from all over the world, with a lot of cultural diversity which will be a great exposure. There are a lot of indian neighbourhoods also, so i will feel at home.”

Visa officer is looking to see how serious the student is. You can also mention any place you would like to visit or any particular cuisine you would like to try.

Q. How will you manage the cultural and educational differences in the US?

Ans: “I will try my best to observe the surrounding to adjust myself to the environment in the US. I understand that there can be a difference in customs, systems, culture and people. Being an Indian citizen, means being a part of a diverse culture, adjusting in the US should not be a problem.”

The student was able to convince the visa officer that fitting into the US culture won’t be a problem at all.

Good Practices to follow for your F1 visa interview

There are no set questions for the interview, every visa interview is different. However, the intent of the interview is  to understand whether you are looking to settle in the US or to study and come back to the home country. The visa officer also looks to assess whether or not you can afford your stay in the United States.

Following are a few good practices to follow for the interview.

• While speaking with your interviewer, remain calm and confident.
• Communicate effectively in English language. You must convince the visa officer of proficiency in the language by the end of the interview.
• Maintain a healthy body language and look at the interviewer while answering all the questions.
• Make sure to properly organise and carry along with you all the required documents.

Make sure that you practice f1 visa interview questions before your interview and familiarise yourself with common answers. Usually, on average, the interview lasts for 3-4 minutes.

We at Zolve wish you success on your journey to the US. You can access various USvisa resources including other articles on f1 visa interview questions that we offer online.