Can someone walk me through F1 visa application?

[arnds]

Hi I received and accepted an offer of admission for doctoral program in US. Now the steps that follow to procure F1 visa are, as per as I understand:

1. Receiving the offer letter
2. Accepting the offer
3. Receiving the Acceptance letter
4. Applying for I20
5. Getting I20 form
6. Applying for visa

Please let me know if I have missed any part. Also a couple of queries:

1. Though I am receiving a full scholarship (not research assistantship or teaching assistantship) do I still need to submit a bank statement while applying for visa or would my offer letter would suffice?
2. Is it possible to start visa application process before getting I20?

Thanking you in advance,

 

[fuzzylogician]

1. You'll get a formal document from your university stating on the one hand the expected costs at your school and on the other hand the amount that the school will pay you. If the second offsets the first, you're set. Otherwise the school will ask you for a bank statement for the remaining amount and consequently the statement you'll receive from the school will have fields like XXX funding from school, YYY self-funding, where the total XXX+YYY will be the total cost of going to the school.

2. You need to have your SEVIS number before you can apply for a visa. The SEVIS number is written on your I-20 so unless your school can tell you what it is in advance of your receiving the I-20 and the financial statement, you'll have to wait. Either way, you'll need these documents before you can do an interview at the US embassy.

3. I don't think you need to apply for the I-20 separately, as far as I recall the process for issuing it was initiated by the international students office at my school after I accepted the offer and without me doing anything about it. They contacted me about the financial statement I mentioned and then sent me the documents together once they were ready.

[Wicked_Problem]

Hi I received and accepted an offer of admission for doctoral program in US.

Congratulations! Now get over here and cure cancer!

[oopalfrootz]

Bring every piece of information you can to the visa interview at the US embassy. They probably won't ask for most of it, but on the London US embassy website it says that incoming scientists and professionals should bring a CV. So bring your CV, bank statement, offer letter, SEVIS number, details of salary and scholarships... everything. Make sure you bring a passport photo or 2 that look relatively recent; supposed to be last 6 months. 

 

When I applied for a J-1 in the past, they didn't ask to see my bank statement, CV - even my offer letter. But if they had asked I hadn't been able to produce them - I'm thinking that would have been bad news. There was a grumble that my passport photo didn't look recent enough - "your hair appears to grow quickly, madam". But it still went through okay... 

[St Andrews Lynx]

American visa photographs have different size dimensions from standard passport photographs I believe (or at least my J1 a couple of years ago did), so check that you're bringing a photograph the embassy will accept.

[G2A]

American visa photographs have different size dimensions from standard passport photographs I believe (or at least my J1 a couple of years ago did), so check that you're bringing a photograph the embassy will accept.

From what I remember (a couple years back, got my VISA in Belfast) I had to upload a photo to the US Embassy website and that was then used it my VISA.

[Sio68]

With the F-1 for how long do you have to prove that you can support yourself? Is it 1 year? Or for the entire PhD?

[TakeruK]

For F-1, you just need to prove that you can support yourself for the first year. Your I-20 form will show these numbers. For J-1 status, you do have to show support for all the years. This information came from my International Student Program office during our orientation session on immigration rules.

[Sio68]

Ah great- thanks! That's good. I have fellowship years that pretty much cover the calculated living expenses, but my TA years don't match it. I find the calculated expenses to be quite high actually. Luckily I do have other options that could prove I could theoretically cover most of the rest of it, but was wondering whether I'd have to call the rents in to prove I could pay 100% of my 5 years! (Which would be a bit mad because I won't be in the US for all of the 5 years...)

[arnds]

Bring every piece of information you can to the visa interview at the US embassy. They probably won't ask for most of it, but on the London US embassy website it says that incoming scientists and professionals should bring a CV. So bring your CV, bank statement, offer letter, SEVIS number, details of salary and scholarships... everything. Make sure you bring a passport photo or 2 that look relatively recent; supposed to be last 6 months. 

 

When I applied for a J-1 in the past, they didn't ask to see my bank statement, CV - even my offer letter. But if they had asked I hadn't been able to produce them - I'm thinking that would have been bad news. There was a grumble that my passport photo didn't look recent enough - "your hair appears to grow quickly, madam". But it still went through okay... 

 

American visa photographs have different size dimensions from standard passport photographs I believe (or at least my J1 a couple of years ago did), so check that you're bringing a photograph the embassy will accept.

Is it necessary for the visa photograph to be similar to the passport photograph?

[Porridge]

How long does it take to approve the visa. I have an interview in an couple of weeks. I know on the websites they say, within 60 days. What are people's experiences?

[fuzzylogician]

How long does it take to approve the visa. I have an interview in an couple of weeks. I know on the websites they say, within 60 days. What are people's experiences?

Normally you get approved on the spot and the consul will keep your passport in order to place the visa in it; you'll be asked to pay for a messenger service that will return it to you or sometimes you can come pick your passport up from the embassy yourself.

For some fields of study the wait is longer because of a process called TAL (Technology Alert List). If your research is in a field the Americans worry might be used to create war-related technologies (this is a vague description, read more online) they will want more information and will perform a security check before they approve you. In that case, the wait might be several weeks long. I don't have personal experience with TAL, however, so maybe other posters can give more accurate information.

[Porridge]

Normally you get approved on the spot and the consul will keep your passport in order to place the visa in it; you'll be asked to pay for a messenger service that will return it to you or sometimes you can come pick your passport up from the embassy yourself.

For some fields of study the wait is longer because of a process called TAL (Technology Alert List). If your research is in a field the Americans worry might be used to create war-related technologies (this is a vague description, read more online) they will want more information and will perform a security check before they approve you. In that case, the wait might be several weeks long. I don't have personal experience with TAL, however, so maybe other posters can give more accurate information.

Thanks so much for this information. I saw TAL warnings on the school's website - fortunately, it does not apply in my case.

[ohgoodness]

http://sweden.usembassy.gov/consulate/niv/apply/checklist3.html

 

This is a pretty good walk-through of what a Swede needs. 

 

and this is Cornells info page: 

http://www.isso.cornell.edu/students/comingtocornell.php

 

Both has been very helpful for me.  I'm almost done with my prep!