My F1 Visa Interview Experience (Pandemic Edition)

Includes details about OFC Appointment along with my tips and resources.

Credits: Google Images

It seemed like a lot of “my first times” were happening at the same time.

• I was entering a consulate for the first time.
• I was going to converse with an American for the first time.
• I might get my passport stamped or returned back for the first time.
• My father honestly revealed his annual income for the first time.

Oh, and I was going to wake up early after a long time. 😅

Am I exaggerating? Maybe. Maybe not for some of you.

Recently, the visa application process has become more complicated, thanks to the pandemic (more on it later).

In order to make the entire procedure a little less overwhelming, I have shared my OFC and Visa Interview experience, along with some tips and bonus content.

Table of Contents

1. OFC Appointment
2. Consular Interview (Visa Interview)
3. Tips for Booking OFC and Consular Interview Appointment
4. Tips for F1 Visa Interview
5. Resources
Conclusion

1. OFC Appointment

For starters, OFC stands for Offsite Facilitation Center. It is also known as VAC (Visa Application Centers) Appointment. Basically, these are third-party companies that are tied to the US consulates for processing the information of candidates via biometrics and a photograph, thus making the visa application process faster and easier.

Key Points

• An OFC appointment must be booked along with the visa interview appointment.
• It is scheduled before your visa interview. In my case, it was 3 days prior.

Documents Required

1. DS-160 Confirmation Page
2. Appointment Confirmation Page
3. Passport
4. MRV Fee Receipt (DS-160 Fee Receipt)
5. SEVIS Fee Receipt
6. I-20 (duly signed)

Experience

Date: 27–11–2020
Location: Chennai
Slot Time: 8:00 a.m.
In Time: 7:50 a.m.
Out Time: 8:20 a.m.

After two times of temperature checking, hand sanitizing, and appointment verification, I was directed to a counter. An officer was seated inside a cubicle and he requested the following documents over a microphone:

1. DS-160 Confirmation Page
2. Passport
3. Appointment Confirmation Page

He scanned the barcode on my DS-160 Confirmation page and verified all my details on the same by ticking off with a pen. Also, a barcode sticker was added behind my passport. He handed back the documents and requested to enter a room to my right.

Upon entering, I was handed a waiting token by a female representative.

There were two counters open (counters 14 and 16), with the same set-up as earlier and two Indian officers (one male and female, both in their 30’s) were seated behind those. There was a television screen mounted at the top that listed the token and the counter numbers for our reference. Additionally, there were instructions stuck across all the counters on how to get our fingers scanned for the biometrics.

After about 3–4 minutes, I was called by the male officer and was asked for the above-mentioned documents. He asked my mode of language to which I replied English. I was then handed a sanitizer sachet and asked to read the Acknowledgement Form stuck on the counter while I sanitized my hands. The officer requested my name and Date of Birth. After verifying the details on my passport, he told me to remove my mask and step back for a photo.

A few seconds later, he instructed me to place my left hand four fingers on the scanner, followed by the right and the thumb finger of both the hands. This process was repeated twice. Finally, he returned back my documents, notifying me that I am supposed to carry them all for my Consular Interview, and greeted me with a good day.

Easy-peasy right?

2. Consular Interview (Visa Interview)

The following are the insights that are completely based on my experience.

• Carry an umbrella if your interview is scheduled at the Chennai consulate. It’s monsoon season (at the time of uploading this blog post) and it’s highly likely that you and your folder could be drenched while waiting on the roadside. Of course, there are auto-driver Annas to the rescue. They appear out of nowhere and start selling umbrellas for 200 rupees (talk about investing in a side hustle). Thankfully, I carried one while most of the candidates did not. Hence, they ended up overpaying for the flimsy umbrellas.
• Don’t wear a watch at all (although the instructions on the Appointment Letter and ustraveldocs state that I can wear one). I wore a plain analog watch and was instructed to remove it which I ended up stuffing inside my folder.

Documents Required

Set-1 (Mandatory)

1. Passport
2. I-20
3. Appointment Confirmation Page
4. DS-160 Confirmation Page
5. MRV Fee Receipt (DS-160 Fee Receipt)
6. SEVIS Fee Receipt

Set-2 (Academic)

1. GRE/GMAT/SAT Scorecard
2. TOEFL/IELTS Scorecard
3. Bachelors degree/Provisional Degree Certificate/Course Completion Certificate
4. Mark Sheets for all the years (individual or consolidated)
5. Senior Secondary School Certificate (Class 12th ) Mark Sheet
6. High School Certificate (Class 10th ) Mark Sheet

Set-3 (Financial)

All financial documents including but not limited to:

1. Savings bank account statement
2. Fixed Deposit
3. LIC Policies
4. Shares and Bonds
5. Mutual Funds
6. PF/GF
7. Tax Returns
8. Property documents (residential, commercial, ancestral, and farmland)
9. Financial Aid Form (in case of scholarship)

Note: If you are financing your education through personal or family funds, carry a Chartered Accountant (CA) Certificate. Refer Resources section for the format.

Set-4 (Work-Related)

1. Joining Letter
2. Salary Slips
3. Reliving letter (only if you have resigned or if have worked at more than one place)

Experience

Date: 30–11–2020
Location: Chennai
Slot Time: 8:00 a.m.
In Time: 7:55 a.m.
Out Time: 8:15 a.m.
Duration of Interview: 3–4 minutes

After successfully pushing past all the heavy metal doors, I entered the main building where four candidates were seated inside the hall.

Initially, only one counter (counter number 23) was open where a male VO was present (I later learned that he was a bald cheerful man in his 30's). I was the only person made to stand by a male attendee at a point where the counters were to my right.

I was standing in the same spot for the whole time, staring at the Indian and the American flag that was rolled in front of each other.

The following were my thoughts:

*wow! I love this place* (the hall was dimly lit with yellow lights and was super-tidy, almost looked like a reception hall of a 3-star hotel).
*do I have to stand for the entire time till I am called? why am I not being made to sit like the others? (the attendee glanced at me from time to time but never said anything).
*ok, focus. take a deep breath*
*why is only one counter open? is it because of the first slot?* (it seems like that was a plausible explanation)
*stop fidgeting. FOCUS!!*

Suddenly, I noticed the blinds on the right end counter open and I was called for my interview (I guess it was counter number 20, I didn’t have time to notice).

The Visa Officer (VO) was a female, probably in her 30’s, filled with politeness and positive vibes. The following “conversation” took place:

VO: “Good morning, how are you?”
Me: *blabbers my good morning* (For some weird reason, I didn’t expect her to wish first and that I wanted to be the first one to wish her when I approached closer.) “I am doing good. How are you doing?”
VO: “I am doing good too.”

I don’t remember the exact sequence of events. But, I vividly remember her asking me to clean the biometric scanner with tissue paper since my fingers were not getting scanned. She turned on the mounted computer screen. She also asked me to remove my mask for a moment for photo identification.

Throughout the interview, she adjusted her microphone and it was my bad as I was frequently asking her to repeat the question. Not to mention, her voice sounded feeble, which further made it difficult for me to comprehend the questions for the first time. She requested my passport and I-20 which I slid under the counter. She was examining my I-20 for a while like how a doctor would examine a patient’s X-ray report (I think it has to do with the dim lighting).

VO: “So, you are going for Information Sciences right?”
Me: “Information Science is the name of the department. Information Management is the program I have opted for.”

VO: “What is this course about?”
Me: “Information Management is a blend of technical and managerial courses that contains a lot of electives that are customized to specific pathways like Information Consulting, Data Analytics, Data Science, and so on.”

She was observing my body language throughout the above answer and didn’t maintain much eye contact for the rest of my answers.

VO: “So, have you decided what are you going to pursue?”
Me: “Yes Ma’am, I am planning to pursue Data Analytics.”

VO: “Sorry, could you repeat that again?” (mask problems 101)
Me: “It is Data Analytics Ma’am.”

VO: *types something on the computer* “Data Analytics huh…”

VO: “Where have you done your Bachelor’s?”
Me: “I’ve completed my bachelor’s at ABC college in September 2020.”

VO: “Have you been working?”
*wondering if she heard my answer to the previous question*
Me: “No Ma’am, I completed my undergraduate this year only, so I haven’t got a cha…”

Now that I think about it, I wish I had reframed the above answer in a different way, although it was an honest one.

If you had recently graduated and were asked this question, you might answer:

“No Ma’am/Sir, I graduated this year. However, I interned as a XXX at ABC Company for M months.” (applies only when you have completed an internship related to your MS or Ph.D. program).

(or)

If you had a job offer at the time of your graduation, you can mention that too.

Continuation…

VO: “Alright. How are you funding your education?”
Me: “My parents are sponsoring my education with a savings amount of XX lakhs and a fixed deposit amount of YY lakhs. Apart from that, there are movable and immovable assets worth ZZ crores and a PF of X lakhs.”

*checks my I-20*

VO: “How are you planning to quarantine yourself?”
Me: “I am planning to quarantine myself for 14 days at a hotel nearby campus.”

VO: “Alright, I am approving your visa. Please collect your passport from the pick-up location. Keep this slip and I-20 safely with you. Land safely in Chicago.”
Me: “Thank you so much, Ma’am. Have a nice day.”

VO: “Yeah, you too.”

Phew! What a relief! I think I got lucky in terms of the questions that were asked.

3. Tips for Booking OFC and Consular Interview Appointment

This is probably the one phase where I suffered the most, thereby leading me to give a lot of tips.

1. Login only three times per day.
2. Stay logged in for not more than 30 minutes each time you log in (some say that you can remain logged in for more than an hour, but I’ve never tried it).
3. Refresh the page near the 10th minute of your log in period and don’t refresh more than twice.
4. If a “maxed-out” error occurs, log out and try after 24 hours.
5. If your account gets frozen, try the next day after 10:30 a.m. If it is still frozen, try after 48 hours, or else, log in after 72 hours which is the maximum frozen duration.
6. Join a Telegram group meant for slot updates. I can’t stress further. I was able to book a slot after 1.5 months solely because of that group.
7. If you join the group, don’t login three times per day. Instead, you can monitor the group continuously and log in only when a “GO” has been given by a member.
8. If a “GO” has been given for a particular consulate, verify for the screenshot of availability and then log in (in case you have already made logins that day).
9. Book patiently. I was too excited when the slots were opened that I didn’t check the timing of my slot until I had finished booking, did a little dance, and informed my dad about the same. Fortunately, I was able to book a slot at my preferred consulate. Hence, transportation wasn’t an issue. However, if the slot availability shows at a different consulate, book for a suitable date and timing.
10. If an error occurs while booking a slot, keep trying. There are high chances to book one eventually. The same applies to max-out errors.
11. Try booking through the Incognito mode. I’ve heard that many people were able to book easily when logged in on this mode. Having said that, I booked mine on a normal Chrome browser.
12. This comes after you’ve booked your slot but I’ll say it here anyway. Avoid going for an Expedited Appointment (EA) unless the program start date is less than a month away. Recently (at the time of uploading this blog post), the majority of EA’s were rejected and that mostly has to do with the course commencement date and limited slot openings.

4. Tips for F1 Visa Interview

1. Get your financials right. Make sure you have savings that are twice or near-twice of your I-20.
2. There are some who say visa interviews are not a big deal and others who say it is difficult to get through without having a nervous breakdown and I am not going to comment on that. Honestly, it depends on the VO and your confidence level. I would only advise you to maintain eye contact all the time.
3. If you are reappearing for the interview after being rejected, prepare an answer to the reason for your rejection. The VO will test whether you have rectified your mistake or not. Most importantly, do not hesitate nor fidget while answering.
4. Try taking mock interviews. It could be a family member or a friend or even someone who professionally deals with this stuff (example: abroad education counselors). It doesn’t matter as long as they are willing to listen to you and judge your confidence level. In my case, I took three mocks in total out of which two were conducted by my mom and one by my college friend. This way, I was able to analyse my mistakes and boost my confidence.
5. Go through all the visa experiences shared on social media. I’d highly recommend Telegram groups. It served me as a great resource for framing both questions and answers.
6. Create follow-up questions related to your university, course, and professors. For example:

VO: “Why this course?”
Me: “The courses offered in this program are all practical-oriented. For example, one of the courses, Global Health Informatics heavily relies on R programming, which is one of the commonly used programming languages in today’s health care industry…”

Now, the VO might be interested to know or let’s say, test your knowledge on Global Health Informatics, R programming, or both. At this time, you should be in a position to answer proficiently.

5. Resources

Time for some bonus content.

If you are just getting started on your visa application process or already midway and awaiting an appointment or an interview, the following resources might be of some use:

Google Spreadsheet Checklist

• Visa checklist (editable on Google Spreadsheet) — contains a list of all documents for OFC Appointment and Consular Interview.

Telegram Groups (active groups at the time of uploading the blog post)

• Chennai F1 Visa Slot Group Updates — Not limited to Chennai. You will get a hang of the concept once you join and observe the updates. Trust me, you'll never regret it. 😉
• F1 Visa Discussion Group — Any doubts related to OFC and Visa Interview can be clarified here.
• FI Visa Interview Experiences — From all 5 (Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata) consulates.
• F1 Visa Reapply — A dedicated group for rejected candidates.
• US Travel and Post-Visa Discussion — Discussions about air travel.

Documents

• F1 Visa Interview Questions and Answers — Along with Dos and Dont’s.
• US Travel Necessities — Includes documents containing information about packing lists, Forex Card, and so on.

Sample CA Certificate

Source: Telegram Group

Conclusion

It all happened so quickly that I have mixed feelings about the entire experience. But as I am writing this, I certainly believe that this is the starting point of what could be the biggest turning point of my life. And, it could be yours too if you take the right steps for acing the interview.