F1 visa for married couple from India

[pd1989]

Hi,

I am going to join University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign for CS PhD and my husband is going to join University of Colorado, Boulder for his PhD as well. We have scheduled f1 visa interviews in Mumbai (India) consulate on same date and time, but separately. Could this lead to any problem? (example - can the visa officer doubt why we did not book a group visa appointment despite being married)

Also, I wanted to know if being married and applying for F1 visa reduces my chances of getting the visa approved. Online visa experiences for married couples are not making me optimistic.  

Please let me know if you have any such experience or can guide me about the situation. 

[TakeruK]

I don't have experience in your situation to answer your specific question, but I do know many international married couples that came to my school on their own F-1s, from India and other countries. I think if they ask why you didn't book a group visa appointment, you should just tell them the answer? 

[pd1989]

On 05/05/2017 at 8:42 PM, TakeruK said:

I don't have experience in your situation to answer your specific question, but I do know many international married couples that came to my school on their own F-1s, from India and other countries. I think if they ask why you didn't book a group visa appointment, you should just tell them the answer? 

Thank you for your assurance @TakeruK .. Actually there is no particular reason. We are going to different universities, so decided to attend the interview on our own. This way we were more comfortable going about the VI. I hope saying this as a reason wont hurt our chances. 

Edited May 8, 2017 by pd1989

[TakeruK]

16 minutes ago, pd1989 said:

Thank you for your assurance @TakeruK .. Actually there is no particular reason. We are going to different universities, so decided to attend the interview on our own. This was we were more comfortable going about the VI. I hope saying this as a reason wont hurt our chances. 

This makes sense to me and I can't think of a reason why it would cause problems. (But again, I don't have experience with this). Good luck!

[DogsArePeopleToo]

As someone who studied on an F-1 visa and later ran a program for students who came to the US on F-1 visas, I would say you should remain optimistic.

The two of you are serious, bona fide scholars with competitive scholarships for five years from renowned universities. You probably have publications, etc. You are not using the F1 visa as a shortcut, easy way for immigration to the US because you can't get to the US any other way. You are both going to the US for a serious, legitimate scholarly undertaking. The US is better for attracting highly qualified people like you from around the world.

The visa counselor will probably ask if you have any relatives in the US. They may or may not ask if your husband is also going to the US (they usually don't ask that in my experience  ). But if they do, answer that truthfully. If they ask why you didn't book a group visa appointment, answer that truthfully as well (some people just don't know that this option exists - I didn't know about it myself for a long time).

Visa counselors are trained to apply the law uniformly, but sadly, their determinations can sometimes be wildly divergent...part of how a counselor decides on a visa petition appears to depend on the counselor's personal disposition or how they feel that day. I have seen some legitimate visa applicants denied, while people with no apparent chance in hell were granted visas...all this is to say that the experiences you read online are indicative of how things work for some people but not representative of how they turn out for the broader visa applicant pool (for starters, people who are rejected are more likely to post to online forums).

Best of luck and let us know how it goes!

[pd1989]

Thanks for your wishes @TakeruK and @DogsArePeopleToo . Hoping for the best! After it's done I shall let you know what happened.  

[debrak7]

On 2017-5-8 at 1:45 PM, pd1989 said:

Thanks for your wishes @TakeruK and @DogsArePeopleToo . Hoping for the best! After it's done I shall let you know what happened.  

@pd1989 - All the best with the Visa! Do update on how it goes - My husband and I are in a somewhat similar situation. He's heading to DC for his PhD this year and I to Bologna for my Master's. But next year I have to apply for a F1 to continue my second year in DC. Am a little apprehensive about both mine and his chances given our plans.

[pd1989]

My visa got approved as well as my husband's. The visa officer did not ask anything related to spouse either to me or him.

The visa officer who interviewed me was a charming lady. She greeted me back with a smile and my nervousness reduced to almost zero. So I was asked the following questions -

1. How many universities you applied to?

2. How many admits?

3. What was your second choice to go?

4. What is the highest degree you have?

5.  Who is going to pay for your studies?

And then she approved my visa.

My husband's interview was longer and he was assigned to a serious looking young guy. His interview went like this - 

1. Are you going for PhD? Do you have funding? 

2. What does your father do? Where did he work (my FIL is retired now)? Which post? What does your mother do? (and other family related information, but asked nothing about being married)

3. What are the other admits?

4. Why are you going to this University?

"Collect your passport in 5 days. Visa approved!" Yaaayyyiii! 

@debrak7 Sorry for this late reply! Thank you for your wishes. All the best for your studies and I think your visa for DC next year will also be approved. They don't reject genuine candidates.  

[DogsArePeopleToo]

2 minutes ago, pd1989 said:

My visa got approved as well as my husband's. The visa officer did not ask anything related to spouse either to me or him.

The visa officer who interviewed me was a charming lady. She greeted me back with a smile and my nervousness reduced to almost zero. So I was asked the following questions -

1. How many universities you applied to?

2. How many admits?

3. What was your second choice to go?

4. What is the highest degree you have?

5.  Who is going to pay for your studies?

And then she approved my visa.

My husband's interview was longer and he was assigned to a serious looking young guy. His interview went like this - 

1. Are you going for PhD? Do you have funding? 

2. What does your father do? Where did he work (my FIL is retired now)? Which post? What does your mother do? (and other family related information, but asked nothing about being married)

3. What are the other admits?

4. Why are you going to this University?

"Collect your passport in 5 days. Visa approved!" Yaaayyyiii! 

@debrak7 Sorry for this late reply! Thank you for your wishes. All the best for your studies and I think your visa for DC next year will also be approved. They don't reject genuine candidates.  

Congrats! I suspected they wouldn't ask about the spouse visa thing. Enjoy the rest of your summer as you prepare for your PhD studies in the fall!

[pd1989]

@DogsArePeopleToo Thanks! Yeah. The interview was really smooth. Didn't expect it to be so easy! Don't know about the "enjoying the summer" part. So many things to do. But at last some relief. Visa was the last hurdle to cross.  

 

[debrak7]

On 2017-5-23 at 11:00 AM, pd1989 said:

My visa got approved as well as my husband's. The visa officer did not ask anything related to spouse either to me or him.

The visa officer who interviewed me was a charming lady. She greeted me back with a smile and my nervousness reduced to almost zero. So I was asked the following questions -

1. How many universities you applied to?

2. How many admits?

3. What was your second choice to go?

4. What is the highest degree you have?

5.  Who is going to pay for your studies?

And then she approved my visa.

My husband's interview was longer and he was assigned to a serious looking young guy. His interview went like this - 

1. Are you going for PhD? Do you have funding? 

2. What does your father do? Where did he work (my FIL is retired now)? Which post? What does your mother do? (and other family related information, but asked nothing about being married)

3. What are the other admits?

4. Why are you going to this University?

"Collect your passport in 5 days. Visa approved!" Yaaayyyiii! 

@debrak7 Sorry for this late reply! Thank you for your wishes. All the best for your studies and I think your visa for DC next year will also be approved. They don't reject genuine candidates.  

Wow! Congratulations! Really happy that both of you are now free to pursue your PhDs of choice. Good luck with the remaining process: it's death by paperwork for both of us here as well. Hope to be able to clear the visa hurdle too next year. Thanks for the update!