My VISA experience and some tips

18.
3rd time story .....must read for all
Posted by: "Tony Kolluri" tony_peter007@yahoo.co.in tony_peter007
Wed Jul 5, 2006 11:20 am (PST)
Part-I---My Visa experience

Hello !! to a whopping 6000+ members of i20 fever hyderabad.

By God's grace,I secured a visa on 28th june 2006 at 9am slot. but
intrvu took at 12:15.

Sorry for being late I've been waiting for my passport.
I was dying to write an experience of mine in the group.

Any ways Iam Tony from Warangal AP.going for MS Computer Engg
,Univ of Houston Clearlake, Houston TX.

I've been a member of this group since past 7 months and I got a
lot of information by reading many experiences and stuff like that.

Thanks to Naveen and his team for indirectly helping me to get Visa.
I really appreciate i20fever for every kind of support they r
giving to the aspiring students through their website,yahoogroups and
the libraries.

I would like to specially thank Krishna Choudary of
CBIT......without whose'help i could n't have succeeded...........mama
gimme u r no i'll call you.

Iam a 2005 passed out from KITS,warangal( KU) E&I Engg (73%
distinction)gre 1130 and toefl 273. no funding.

I have been rejected twice before 2-feb-2006,2-jun-2006. you guys
know the situation after a rejection.

Seriously, I went this time for a rejection because ......

Times have changed in the Chennai Consulate they have become keen
on financial statements and transactions.
they are rejecting like hell and enquiring with the bank and
making us to sit and wait for hours for verification...............and
still if they doubt.....they are calling to a room and sit face to
face and torturing ...... and so on .........

guys plz do you finance docs well and inform the bank before and
prepare for all kind of consequences(like going into the
room................I have seen some people with genuine docs and they
aren't believing him..........and saying them fake.)

I had some of the worst documentation one could ever imagine.......

keeping all this in mind I never expected a Visa ......I went a
rejection and for a permanent rejection too in case ( iam really
vexed..........US vellaka pothe em avunthundi.....USA my
foot.......nothing will happen...........i have many alternatives in
India itself......I went with that mind).

I had an admission for UK and this was my last attempt for US
whether or not.

and I was looking for good VO , who does not verify and simply
reject on grounds of " donot intend to come back" or "Insuff ties".

I was made to stand in counter No.3,......the counter just opened
and I was one of the first five people.

The VO was male, hardly 25 very young, roundish face with black
frame glasses......very serious. he was standing, we both were same
height(6FT).........we were looking straight into the eyes.
He was asking many questions to all. I was afraid. i went to rest
room and came back after three min and stood in same line at the back
of few more people.

Counter 4 :VO was around 45 year old with full beard ,very cool
and smiling very good interaction with people and finally not giving
to students saying "u please go do some job and establish ties for
urself or have some work exp then u'll have bright future in the US"
and he rejected five students while i was watching and gave to one. I
liked him(he was so nice in rejecting) and I tried to go into that
line but.........he said to attenders that he's closing.....
I had to stand in my line........then my turn comes

believe me..... the VO not allowing me to speak one full
sentence.......whatever I say he says why? what's this and that? I
dint have few secs to think which direction my interview was
going....no time at all ...he's questioning i'm answering thats
it..........I dint have a thought he'd give visa coz......... in my
second intrvu I was answering ethg well but VO made his decision to
reject.......In fact I was more confident in the second one than this
time........one cant really predict.

One thing was very important is that I had a very good eye contact
with him through out.

he cuts me on every answer before i complete it and asks why?

my interview goes on like this..........

VO: waves his hand for me to come in
Me:Good Afternoon sir
VO:Good Afternoon
Vo:How many Univ did you apply?
(he asks this without even taking my folder.......Iam surprised
for his judgement)
Me: four univ
VO:name them?
Me: Univ of Houston clearlake,wright state univ, eastern illinois
univ, univ of Kentucky, lexington
(he reads sthg on the system..........and may be ....that i have
been rejected twice....... and finds two stamps on my passport)
Vo:you came here twice?
Me:yes
Vo: you have been seen by two officers before........why r u
wasting time..dont do this again......
Me: dumb.........( I thought he will stamp on my passport there itself)
Vo:what kind of appointment is this?
Me:its a regular appointment......
Vo:did you mention your rejection.............
Me: (I dint understand.....the question so I said.......)
I was very nervous....
Vo: Stop......Did you mention in the VFS site that you have been
rejected twice in the past six months while making this appointment?
Me:yes sir .......(seriously....into his eyes)
Vo: you applied to diff univ first time......what made you to
change from wright?
(I applied for Wright State for Spring 2006)
Me:the program which the Univ of Houston clearlake offers me, has
advantages......
VO: what advantages?
Me: Iam impressed by the program which is inline with my previous
project work...............
VO:What project work did you do?
Me; Its a design of a processor....
VO:what's a processor...
Me:Processor is an integrated circuit that......
Vo:why did you design a processor?
Me: Chip designing is my area of Interest sir.
Vo:Why.... that..... interests..... you?
Me:( I got irritated.......nuvvu elago visa ivvavu......neeku
enduku ra ee details anni.....thondaraga black stamp veyyi...nenu UK
ki vellali............coz he's not letting me complete my answers)
Iam an electronics student sir,I've done my project in the same
area, i would like to know how things work and design few things in
the future.
( i said this very seriously into his eyes)
Vo:(stares on to the system and passport for a while)
VO:gimme you marks sheets and score cards
Me: gave them
Me: I passed in First Division with Distinction.
Vo: sees them....
Vo:what you have been doing since 2005?
Me: I have done a Diploma in Real time embedded systems.........
Vo: then why dont you go for Job with that?
Me:with a UG degree iam offered on Freshers or Trainee level
positions only....
VO: with a UG degree you get only trainee level postions why dont
you go for them.?
Me: But I look for better positions like IC designer or a Design
Engineer position..............
VO:what does a design Engineer Do?
Me: a design engr designs electronic circuits for different kind
of applications like...
VO: what kind of companies will be offering you a design engr position?
Me: companies like LG Soft India, AMD India etc..............( I
prepared only indian companies names..........dont dare to tell Intel,
Motorola etc)
Vo: stares on the computer......
VO:what does your father do?
Me: told
VO: where in the govt?
Me:yes in the Govt of AP.
VO:What does ur mother do?
Me:told
VO:again stares on the computer....
VO: do you have a younger sister?
Me:( iam surpised how does he know younger sister............then
i remember that second VO asked me any siblings?? elder or younger?)
Me:yes
VO: how old is she?
Me:18
VO:what is she doing?
Me: she finished her Intermediate
Vo: whats she palnning to do?
Me: higher studies...
Vo:what kind of higher studies? will she be joining a university?
Me:yes ....
Vo: what kind of course?
Me: may be engineering.....
VO: types sthg for much longer time..(2-3 min)
Vo: somehow you did convince about you program and Univ....you got
your Visa.
(he says this while keeping my passport in the folder and throwing
it aside and i couldn't listen properly)
Me: thank you
Vo: thank you.

I was in a shock I was waiting for him to stamp on the passport
and gimme back and I was surprised..and i dint even wish him a good
day........
I was coming out thinking did he say "you did convince me" or "you
dint convince me"..... then thought he dint give passport...wow I got
my Visa.......

I was wondering after my two interviews why dont VO's ask me
questions?.....after this iam happy for having this kind of an
interview.
That was my experience.
the truth is VISAS R NOT GIVEN U HAVE TO WIN IT except for few
exceptional cases whose face seems to be a good student.

Kudos to i20feverhyderabad , and thanks to all for patiently
reading this one.

the next part for future applicants who r going for visa. these r
my opinions plz dont mind but i thought of sharing with you all.

Thanks to all,I 'll continue to be member for some more time,but
i'll go for a daily digest option.

I'll be very happy to help you people.

Proud to be a member of i20fever.

Regards,
Tony Kolluri.

Part-II---Tips

For all future applicants:

Dangerous Vo's

Brett lee-------VO who's very young,may be 25,very lean, square
face, asks a lot of questions,he's going for verification with bank
for most of the F1's.....and making you to sit. I have seen him
saying:"are these genuine .....if they genuine its ok but if they or
not you'll face the consequences....go and wait i'll call you again"

Black scarf lady-----dont expect to have Q&A's if you go for this
VO... and forget abt visa......(there are people who got visa without
answering a single question and rejected without a single question by
this lady)

45 year old bearded guy----i donno how is he pleased...but rejects
u smoothly

Good VO's

Curly hair young blonde----good VO asks questions and gives if
convinced......
Lady with black curls--- good VO(she's so cute), asks all figures
in your CA report.....
Two Indian looking Vo's---------one is 45 and one is
30........both wear soda buddi eyeglasses....45 year old........looks
like F.M. Chidambaram......... is okay he'll give u visa .........30
year old is hard to please.......he rejected me second time.......with
four questions.

Almost all ladies are going for financial verification starting
from black scarf.

All the VO's are playing a tactic saying " these docs are
fake...........tell me the truth..........guys stick on to one answer
and say they are genuine......"
They do this to see ur face reactions..........I guess.......if u
stumble there they will verify them for sure.

One thing is that the interview is a psychological game for five
min and you have to win that with ur wit.

Inorder to get a visa you have to clear three things in their mind

1) the intent must be clear ------for studying------u can do this by
speaking well about ur univ,specialzation......

2) U shud clarify that u r not a potential immigrant..............dont
show that u r desperate to go...............your answers must be like
"out of may possiblities available u r going to US" and u chose US out
of many options available..............and ur prospects will not die
once u come back........u have to convey that.

3)u have sufficient funds------they r not very keen on this. u know, i
know, they know, that we cant have that much money------but if you
donot satisfy above two reasons u'll fall into this
category-------"insuff funds" ...............its a negative point in
the intrvu if VO is asking fin.docs........they do this to mark
"insuff funds" point on 214(b) paper.
these three reasons you can find on 214(b) paper.........guys u know
iam used to that 214(b) paper......i got it twice !!!!!!!

First timers always have a better chance of success....... dont
waste the opportunity(like I did).

Guys practice different kinds of answers on your own........it
seems like they r bored of listening "SUITS MY PROFILE" ....try in a
diff way........ I have made diff answer while i was in the VO's
line...........and I said.....program is inline with my project
work........so I have made the VO come to my direction where I can
speak about.........like my project work.......

Dont give open ended answers like " to pursue my masters at xxx"
and stop there..........this will make VO to take you to a different
direction........instead take him to your need and your specialization
and your project work..........wherever you get a chance...........

the first two/three questions will decide your fate and out come
of the intrvu............. Not your acads,financial docs and bank
balance.
Be innovative in those areas.............like why US? wHy this
univ? why this specialization?

prepare ur answers well.......and be prepared for why's and what's
your answers generate.......and be ready to explain them....

Be very sure abt ur parents profession, their work, their duties
for that position and their numbers (income, IT returns etc)

Eye contact can do wonders ,dont take eyes off the officer---its a
symbol of confidence and affirmation about the truth of what you are
saying.

Of course all these things will work only if the VO is in real
mood to conduct an intrvu.........One cant predict outcome if your VO
is scarf lady......GOD knows.

Be careful for questions in disguise like what r ur plans after
graduation? what r ur future plans?-------they ask this to clarify
whether u r potential immigrant............. not that they r concerned
abt ur future.

dont worry abt backlogs and low scores-------remember that its a
psychological game and they ask you this to test if you r worried abt
them.....not that they r concerned abt your grades..........dont worry
abt this..........at this point VO is pointing out a deficiency in
you......its your duty to show a plus point in you............... like
extra curricular activities...........if dont have any .........try
for fake..........dont be dumb

Dont think that if he gives two or three visa's before you then
you'll get one.....VO's easily change the trend.

They judge you, by your face appear like a student.

dont show that you r desperate to go.........they will definitely
estimate that and stop you. Only show that u r good student.

Tony Peter Kolluri.