Congratulations! You have been admitted to a US university. Now, what’s next? All international students who wish to pursue higher studies in the US must have a temporary visa to enter the country. This temporary visa is known as the F1 visa. It’s a non-immigrant visa; you cannot study in the country without its approval.

So, once a US school has already accepted you, applying for your F1 visa is the next step. After completing the application process, you’ll have to appear for an interview with visa consulate officers. Now only one step remains from living your American dream. The F1 visa Approval! At this point, your heart will be racing to find out whether your F1 visa is approved or not. The only way to know is by tracking the status of your visa. This gets you thinking… “How to check the F1 visa status?”

How to check F1 visa status: A Step-by-Step Guide

While uncertainty and the unknown, in most cases, are exciting. But when it comes to knowing your F1 visa approval, being in the unknown is miserable. So by checking the status of your F1 status, more than anything, you’ll be calm and have clarity about the next thing. If it’s approved, you start planning your trip to the US well in advance. And if it’s rejected, you’ll can to prepare for the reapplication procedure. Thus, being on top of your F1 visa application status is highly imperative. Now, let’s see how to check the F1 status.

1. Visit  CEAC website
2. Click on Check my visa Application Status
3. Enter Location, Application ID, or Case Number
4. View US visa status

Step 1

Visit CEAC Website: For checking your F1 visa status, the US Department of State’s Consular Electronic Application Center (CEAC) website must be visited. CEAC is part of the US Department of State and is used to create DS-160 and DS-260 visa applications. You would have visited the same website while creating your visa application.

Step 2

Click "Check My visa application Status": After entering the CEAC website, click on the last option on the page (marked with a red arrow in the image below), which says - Check My visa application Status.

Step 3

Enter Location, Application ID, or Case Number: Since you have applied for an F1 visa, your application type would be Non-Immigrant visa (NIV). Choose Non-Immigrant visa from the dropdown and then proceed to filling other required information.

• Location: Select the location where you went for the US visa interview in the dropdown menu.
• Application ID: Application ID is available on your US visa Appointment confirmation letter.
• Case Number: The Case Number is given by the Consulate and is usually present on the slip given to you, either for Administrative processing or 221g. The format of the number is 2020118 145 1001 and is written by the visa officer.

Note: The number needs to be entered correctly with spaces; otherwise, you will get an error saying, “Your search did not return any data”.

Captcha Code: To avoid spam, you need to enter the code.

After filling in the required information and click on "Submit".

Step 4

View US visa Status: The visa status will get displayed when you have entered everything correctly. The status can be of different types like Administrative Processing, Issued, or other statuses.

For you to understand how to check F1 visa status, it is important for you to also understand the nuances that come with it. To begin with, the types of phases for your visa application.

Types of status

If you think that the answer to your question of: How to check F1 visa status ends here… Wait just a little more… There’s one more way to check F1 visa status updates.

Visit VFS Global to check F1 visa updates

VFS Global is a visa outsourcing company with presence in 5 continents and 143 countries. It holds the distinction of processing more than 232 million applications since 2001. It operates 3,533 application centers and facilitates administrative and non-judgmental tasks on behalf of the government and diplomatic missions of 63 countries.

VFS Global offers you the fastest way to check visa updates. They process all valid visa applications, including tourist, visit, transit, dependent, etc. However, you can get information only from VFS Global if you have applied through them. You might not get much information if you have applied directly.

How to check F1 status using VFS?

1. Track Online - Click on ‘Track your application’ tab and choose the website link for applications lodged on or after 02 November 2018.

Find the right page and enter your application number to get visa updates.

1. WebChat - You can also chat with an executive by clicking on the ‘Chat Now’ option and sharing your application number to get the details.
2. Helpline Number - You can contact VFS Global at +88 09666 911 380, +88 09606 777 888 and call them to find visa updates.
3. Email - Send an email to VFS Global at info.canadabd@vfshelpline.com containing your application number and expect a reply within 48 business hours.

FAQs for US F1 visa Status Check

1. Error – Your search did not return any data?

This error shows when you haven’t entered the data correctly. The mistake usually conducted in this case is of spaces in Case Number. You need to enter your Case Number correctly with spaces.

2. Error – Invalid Application ID or Case Number?

This error shows when you have entered either the incorrect Location, the Application Number, or the Case Number. This error goes away on entering the correct details.

Winding-up

Now that you know how to check F1 visa status, you can find out how far you are from visiting the US.

In case you're looking for a cost-effective and seamless banking experience the moment you land  in the US, Zolve can help you out. Zolve lets you open a US bank account from India, and offers you a high-limit US credit card  for taking care of your college, daily and shopping expenses and also helps you build your credit score from day one.