Visa Issues: Obtaining Visa

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Neo
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Visa Issues: Obtaining Visa
Andy Neo

The visa interview
The Visa Interview depends a lot on your luck and how the visa officer is feeling on that day. You can only hope and pray that he is in a good mood.
The most important question on ones mind is what documents you should take along for the interview in US Embassy. Here is a very comprehensive list of the documents.
-- A Valid Passport
The passport need not be valid for the entire duration of the stay in US ( usually 1 and 1/2 to 2 years). It has to be valid for at least 6 months after the day the student appears for visa interview.
-- A Demand Draft
The Application fee of Rs.1980/- i.e.. USD 45 (please check up with the consulate for the latest amount, as this keeps on changing.). Must be a Demand Draft in favor of the American Consulate General. Write your name and address behind the DD.
-- The Visa Fee
If you get the visa, a visa fee USD 100, either in cash or a DD in favor of the 'American Consulate, is required to be paid immediately.
-- The Visa Form
The completed visa application form is available at the US consulate, get this form and take the completed application form with you. You can obtain a visa form from the US consulate few days before you plan to go for the visa interview. They are generally open between 8:00am and 11:00am. See that you ask for a Non-Immigrant Visa Application Form. In the form you are asked what your place of residence will be in the US. You may have not decided where you will stay on reaching there. So, you can write "on campus ". The visa form requires a 37mm * 37mm color photo with a white/light background.
-- The I-20 Form, Letter of Admission and Aid letter
Complete both (students copy and school copy) the I-20 forms and sign them. You may also carry along any correspondence with the University that you feel is significant.
-- Exam scores
You will have to take original copies of GRE and TOEFL scores. Keep them separately so that you can produce them immediately when asked for (They hate waiting!!). They usually ask for the GRE score report. Also carry along with you all your original semester mark sheets.
-- Financial Documentation
If you have got aid then you can chill out. Usually, they will not ask you about your financial position. For those who haven't got any financial assistance see that you show sufficient funds for the duration of the course. You need to show the amount for the first year only. They generally assume that if u can fund yourself for the first year, you would be able to do so in the second year as well. So show more funds than that required if you can, but otherwise also it’s fine.
a) The most common document students take is a CA certificate. This is a certificate stating that your sponsor has the required funds to finance your entire educational, living and other expenses. It gives a summary of the funds of the sponsor.
b) Just the CA certificate will not suffice. You may be asked to produce all the original documents that were used to evaluate the funds. Some of the documents used for evaluation are:
the Tax returns of parents, salary certificate, bank passbooks, bank FD receipts, company FD receipts, share certificates, property documents, gold evaluation and any other document that you may have used. It is very important that you carry along all these documents.
NOTE: It is very important that you avoid showing complete financial funds from US. Scores of students have been rejected because of this reason.
-- Sponsor's Letter
Obtain a letter from your sponsor (generally parents) stating that he/she/they will provide for the complete expenses for the entire course of study.

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