[Music] hey everyone this is argo visas student visa week we are so excited to be doing our second annual student visa week and i think from most consular officers and now even us you know after we've left the government for argo officers we're always really excited about student visa season um so i have with me guests jenna who is one of our argo officers and krista who's also one of our argo officers and we do a lot of work with student visa applicants and you know it it's really interesting with student visas because it does tend to be seasonal i know a lot of you guys have gotten your i-20s and you're getting ready to head off to school this fall and you're probably just now trying to get your visa appointment and get prepared in today's session we're specifically going to be talking about master's students phd students anyone who is pursuing their graduate school programs in the united states and you know hopefully some of the topics that we bring up will be of interest to you will help you during your visa interview process a little bit about argo visa we're in a company of ex-visa officers you know jenna has worked in brazil christa has worked in mexico and guatemala i've worked in china and mexico and hong kong so between us we have just so much experience behind the visa window having interviewed so many visa applicants just like yourselves and don't feel like you have to go through this process alone it can be very nerve-wracking it can be a short interview but it doesn't mean that it's not important in fact it's really high stakes and this is the gateway to all of your dreams and all of your goals in the united states so don't underestimate this very important process in getting your visa and i think especially this year given the global pandemic and things you know kind of getting better and maybe more visa appointments being available make sure that if you get that appointment to actually be prepared because it could be your one shot to get approved and as some of you probably know if you get denied a visa it brings all sorts of complications uh later on and so you know i'm gonna kick off this session by just uh talking a little bit about you know i'd like to hear a little bit from jenna and krista you know can you tell us a little bit about your experience with student visas and graduate school programs when you were a consular officer you know how many student visa applicants did you see where you were working at the us consulate or embassy and what are some common issues that you used to see with this special group of students you want to go ahead jenna yes thanks krista so a lot of the interviews that i did at the window were with f visas especially this time of year and i would say a common error is that especially for masters and postgrad students you spent so much time preparing your application you spent so much time getting ready for this program and finally your i-20 is issued and you think that all of this work that you put in and all of your qualifications that you've proven to the university have been conveyed to the visa officer and truthfully when you walk up to the window it's the first time that the visa officer is learning about you and they really don't know your story so i think that the common misconception and error that happens is that especially for masters and postgrad because it's so hard to get into these programs to finally have your i-20 issued and then they don't prepare it all for the interview so the visa officer me as a visa officer i was trying to really pull information out of applicants trying to understand their financial situation not knowing that they had already sent all of their financial documents to the university to show that they had the funding but these officers don't have access to that so that's why it's so important that you prepare for the for the fvisa interview because the visa officer is going to be understanding your situation in that moment so those two minutes or less that you have with them you need to be prepared for a tough conversation you need to be prepared to talk about your financial your finances your plans for after your program and uh you know it's it's the last step that you need to make your your dream of sitting in the u. s a reality it's very important to prepare for it i definitely agree with that jenna and i would add that i think that some people go to the um f1 visa interview with the assumption that it's going to be just a row interview and you know it's just a very easy administrative step and you know sometimes that can be true but often it's not and so um anyone listening to this video should definitely be aware of you know how to prepare for your f1 visa interview um how to talk to a visa officer about your studies one thing that i think that people really assume especially all the f1 interviews that i did in mexico was that the officer knows why you want to study in the u. s and that's not true a question you will often get is why do you want to study in the u.
s and um i got answers as varied as because there are pretty girls on u. s campuses to you know because my mom studied at a school in the u. s or because of a certain program at the university and so you really want to hone in on being able to answer that question of like why the u.
s there's tons of universities all over the world and if you don't know how to answer competently and coherently the question of why you want to study in the u. s you're not going to have a good f1 visa interview and it is not just a you know administrative easy step um and if you can't answer questions like that especially the question of why you want to study in the us um you're you might come up with some difficulties at your interview i think that's such a great point krista and i know in doing argo consultations sometimes i stress to clients that that question why are you studying in the us which tends to be the first question that a student visa applicant will get that first question by the visa officer sets the tone for the entire interview right would you guys agree that it's really important to be prepared for the first question and if so why absolutely so you're as soon as you open your mouth to respond to the first question you're setting the tone for your interview the officer is going to be judging do you seem like a serious student do you seem like someone who's done the work who really is going to succeed at a program in the u. s is your english level uh on par with um the kind of studies that you're going to do in the u.
s would you need extra english training or no um according to your i-20 does that seem correct do you seem like the kind of person who really is organized and is going to succeed at um studying in the us so the tone the demeanor and the content of your the response to your first question are absolutely key i agree krista i think that what i always tell our clients at argo as well is the interview is very short and you're asked very few questions in general so every time you're asked a question that is an opportunity to explain yourself to set the tone of the interview as you said krista and to show who you are you know more it's it's not really about the documents it's about the conversation so especially that first question you're showing them who you are you're showing them your academic qualifications because of your english level there's a lot that you can show when you come up with a really clear concise and relevant answer to that first question that's that's so true and so turning to specifically students who are pursuing graduate school degrees um i think that the common problem that i have seen from student visa applicants who are applying is you know it's actually more common more often than not that students have already started their education in the us you know they've already done their undergraduate studies in the us now they're pursuing maybe their first or second master's degree um how do you feel about students who have been in the u. s for a really long time and perhaps this is you know going on their sixth or seventh year studying in the us and what would you recommend to those students in preparing for this next visa interview um i'll start off with this one i think it's interesting as uh as now as an argof as an argo officer and you know being here in the us it's it's impressive that you're doing you know your undergrad and your graduate degree in the us it's really showing that you're excelling in u. s academics and it's impressive however i do remember my time as a visa officer when i see someone who's been in the us for seven years and they want to go back i have some questions right so how are you affording to spend all of this time in the u.
s finances becomes a very important question and you know having the applicant in front of me when i was a peace officer at the window being able to even break down the finances of how they're paying for it to credibly describe for example what their financial sponsor does for a living or their parents you know there's the financial question when you've spent that much time in the u. s and there's also what's the present intent to depart right so in the end the f visa is a non-immigrant visa so you should have some sort of future plans of returning to your home country and you should be able to describe them to the visa officer so i think that's been interesting right it makes sense it shows that you're academically excelling the fact that you've been in the u. s so long studying but it leads to a lot of questions of the visa interview and you really need to be prepared to answer them so one thing that i would add to that is while it can show that you're excelling in the us it can also and this happened to me in a lot of um interviews i had as a consular officer is well are you really doing that well why is it taking so long so questions of you know your academic um stability will will possibly come up and you definitely at your interview want to be able to credibly explain what kind of program you're in why is it taking a little longer did you have a child in that time and you needed to take a little break or you know you took less credits one semester because of a certain life circumstance that you had you know you really need to be able to have a tight argument around why it has taken you longer especially if you have exceeded um you know the normal time of like what a master's or a phd would usually take the other thing is that you know you should be prepared to definitely explain what your career goals are out of this consular officers are not going to be very favorable to eternal students if it just seems like you you know you have the money and time to study the rest of your life um that might not be you know a favorable argument for your visa and so do you have career goals attached to this long-term study um plan that you have um what kind of salaries do you expect to be able to to make after you've finished all of your studies and so you want to make sure that you're super able to explain um kind of your the career goals and the life goals attached to a an extended period of study i love hearing these answers from you guys because it just reminds me of you know even though the interview process um the interview itself is really short just how substantive and how deep consular officers can get right because they want to make use of those five minutes to really understand sort of what makes you tick what is going on in your life all of these things that are happening so i feel like for our students who are thinking that this is a rubber stamp they're just going to go in pass over their i-20 not have to say much get their visas approved it sounds like for a few minutes at least they really have to advocate for themselves and defend themselves and their decisions would you say that's accurate absolutely yeah so the interviewee the applicant's job is to make their short their life choices make sense to the consular officer that they are talking to and you know that is a very subjective um process because obviously you're talking to an individual who has their own kind of conceptions about what a student should be what that person should be studying um how this you know life plan should work out and so you want to be really prepared to um show yourself as a very competent coherent serious person who has goals and who knows what they're doing in their life to be able to convince that consular officer that this visa makes sense yeah and something i commonly tell clients as well is you know you're taught your whole life to be humble about your achievements right but at the vc interview that's your time to shine and that's your time to really showcase all of these things that you've done showcase how you're qualified for the program that you're applying for you know it's the time that you need to show the confidence in your ability absolutely so one other um type of client that i've noticed does have issues with their visa applications and their visa interviews students who tend to be what consular officers call non-traditional right perhaps you know this is a second career and they're going back to school perhaps they just look a little bit older than your average you know graduate school student um in their you know mid-20s or late 20s and so could you tell us a little bit about the consular officers perceptions of these students and how these students could prepare to put themselves in the best position yeah that's a great question and and chris to touch on this a little bit you know the visa officers are coming to that interview with their own preconceived notions of what a student looks like right so if you're outside of what that pattern of a student would be like so potentially you know if you're a student applying in the us you're younger in your 20s you know your parents have the financial means to pay for your time in the us and if you're outside of the that sort of pattern then it's really important that you convey your situation and that you make the visa officer understand why you're studying when you are so there's no problem you know that you're you're a non-traditional student but you have to make sure that it makes sense for the visa officer so be prepared to tell your story be prepared to even get vulnerable you know something that mandy touched on is that you have a very short amount of time but during that time things get real right you're going to be vulnerable you're going to be telling deeper things about yourself that you would normally save for close friendships but the visa office at the visa window you really need to get that information out there in a credible way in a concise way you need to convince the base officer that indeed you are studying and it's okay that you you know it's you're a non-traditional student because your true intent is to study yeah and i would um add to that as well sometimes when you're a non-traditional student you also have like other family members involved in the application you might have a spouse or children who are going to be accompanying you and you want to make sure that when you're talking to the visa officer you're going to be able to speak credibly about what their plans are going to be so if your spouse is joining you and they are going to take kind of a gap in their employment to support your um studies you really want to be able to talk about like what are they going to do all day they're if their only plan as a you know 30 plus year old professional is to watch tv all day you're not going to do very well with the with the consular officer um are they going to be doing any kind of like online courses back at a university um at home or are they going to continue to travel back and forth while they're on that um dependent visa to continue their jobs you know be really prepared and don't think that you know just oh they're my dependent so they're going to qualify you could really put in doubt the consular officer's view of your case in as a whole if it doesn't seem like you really have a plan for what your spouse or child will be doing while they're in the united states that is such a good point that is such a good point um what do you feel are some common reasons if there are any for graduate school students getting denied or perhaps being put into the dreaded administrative processing pile where you know there's going to be a delay there's going to be more time before they can get that visa approved what are some reasons that you have seen that these types of students get denied their visas one thing is if you have studied in the u.
s previously and you just weren't a great student there were maybe um you know issues about completing your studies maybe if there's like a you know a warning on your case that you have you know um dropped out of school during certain semesters so you want really want to make sure that if you've had any issues in your studies as an undergraduate student or prior any experience in the u. s prior have you had a dui that kind of stuff um if you have been in the united states and you've had any any problems you want to be super prepared for your visa interview to make sure that you can talk competently about why this program that you're going to go to now is going to be successful and why it makes sense for this time in your life correct i think that's um a major reason for denial right prior uh you know behavior with your f visa in the past so whether you kept your service active whether you've always been enrolled whether you've been doing well in school whether you abided by all of the rules that you know are involved with opt for example yeah you need to be prepared to explain any sort of issues that you had in the past because it really weighs heavily on your future applications so i think that's a huge part of it something i touched on earlier as well finances and really being able to explain how you're going to pay for the program and for your time in the u. s you know you may assume that because you you were able to pay for your undergrad that that's going to you know make it clear that you could pay for your master's degree program however master's degrees phd's can be you know very expensive living in the us is also costly so you need to be able to explain your finances right and and the other thing is if you're not able to explain um like what krista said how this is going to benefit your career or explain how you know you're going to exp you're going to return to your home country and you're going to have a career in your home country if you can't talk about that and the visa officer thinks that you don't have any intent to return after this next program then that is another reason that your your visa could be denied one thing too and i saw this a lot as a visa officer in mexico was the impression that a consular officer can can have through your interview that your f1 visa is just an excuse to live in the united states rather than um a bona fide course of study that is you know gonna set you up as a bona fide student so if you cannot competently talk to the visa officer about like jenna said why you want to do this how this makes sense for your career how you're going to apply the knowledge that you hope to gain in the program to your profession or to your business if you can't talk about that stuff you may have some problems in your visa interview and especially when like i said earlier spouses or children are involved you want to really make sure that that the consular officer does not get the impression that you just want to enroll your kids in school in the u.
s unfortunately in mexico that was a big thing that consular officers were looking out for and so you know really being able to competently explain your plans prior during and after your studies are going to be key to getting that approval just to add to that going back to the question that you mentioned why do you want to study in the us or why did you choose this program that's another example you know when the visa officer is trying to understand if they're a credible student that wants to study or whether they're just trying to live in the u. s for some other purpose right so you want to be careful that you're not giving some sort of boilerplate language response of what you read in the pamphlet right you need to really think about why you chose the program that you did and what your intentions are once you finish that program yeah and one thing i wanted to mention to our audience too is and if you don't know this already i think this is a really good time for a reminder that if you do end up getting your visa denied which we hope that doesn't happen to anybody out there but if it does it does stay in your visa record right so that's going to have to be addressed at your next visa interview and one of the things that i have seen is that any complication in your case that takes you out of the the group of what we consider ordinary students you know as as jenna and krista and i've discussed you know if you have a lot of family in the u. s if you're in love with an american citizen if someone has already filed a green card petition for you sometimes people don't think about that uh you know if you have had prior refusals even if they were not for student visas if they were for tourist visas or some other type of visas keep in mind that that means that you will have a tougher visa interview um regardless of your situation and at argo what we do is we find out everything about your life not just about your your your student visa aspirations but about you know your travels your family and your employment and then we we understand your situation we give you a strategy we practice mock interviews with you we listen to how you answer we give you feedback and you know john and krista you've been working with a lot of our student visa applicants you know over the past like year would you say that an argo consultation would be helpful for someone who is preparing for their next visa interview absolutely for all the reasons that we've talked about here being prepared for your student visa interview is actually an amazing investment in your future because if you get that if you do get denied at your visa interview it can have huge implications for your future plans in the us for any future applications and of course um you know it will uh you know you'll either have to reapply see if you can get another interview especially with the scarcity of interviews right now you know that may mean that you miss your program and you have to defer so being prepared for your f1 interview as a master's student or as a person looking to do a certificate program or an undergraduate program is super important correct um and you know just as you've prepared so much for this program you should be preparing for your visa interview it's the last step but the most important step and argo because we're all ex-visa officers we know exactly what happens at the visa interview we know what questions will be asked and we can prepare you for that in addition by doing the mock interviews you know you'll you'll get better at responding to the questions and especially in english if they're going to be testing your english at the time of the interview and our session with an argo officer is extremely helpful absolutely thank you guys so much for joining me for this session you guys can find out more about us at argovisa.
