I was rejected for F-1 visa

Student Lounge International Students
1

<p>Hello everyone,</p>

<p>I scheduled my visa interview a few days back and was unfortunately rejected. Upon asking the visa officer, he gave me a sheet containing the specific reason for which I was rejected.</p>

<p>You have not shown that you have sufficiently strong family, social, or economic ties outside the U.S. Such ties can include employment, professional, educational, family or social links to a foreign country. You have not demonstrated that you have the ties that will compel you to return to your home country after your travel to the United States.</p>

<p>I was asked the following things in my interview:</p>

<ol>
<li>Why do you want to travel to the United States? I replied: Undergraduate Study</li>
<li>How long have you stayed in this country? I replied: 18 years, I was actually born here. (Actually I live in a foreign country for which this was asked)</li>
<li>What does your father do? I replied: He was as an..........in.............company</li>
<li>Do you have any salary statements showing your father's income? I replied: Yes (and after that, I showed him my Dad's salary statement and even bank statements even though he did not ask for it)</li>
<li>Who will support for your education? I replied: My Dad, for everything</li>
<li>Have you graduated from high school? I replied: No, I will in June</li>
<li>Which school do you study in? I replied to that question too.</li>
<li>Have you ever travelled to the U.S. I replied: No</li>
</ol>

<p>The man then said, sorry we cannot provide you with the visa today. I asked why, he gave me the reason (2nd paragraph) and told that: 'You couldn't show strong ties like employment with your home country. After you graduate, you don't have means of support'
I purposely did not go into further argument with the visa officer fearing that he possessed the ability to cancel my status permanently.</p>

<p>Things to note:</p>

<ol>
<li>I applied for visa very early because I received my I-20 early. Normal visa interviews are in June-July-August</li>
<li>The visa officer did not ask for my I-20 at all.</li>
<li>The etiquette I always knew was to have a good and straight posture, looking directly into the eyes and replying to whatever he says ONLY. I did everything as said. </li>
<li>Based on points 2 and 3, I did not myself willingly hand over the I-20, transcripts and many other such documents because they were not asked for.</li>
<li>The visa officer, therefore doesn’t know that I received a college grant of very high amount (45k) </li>
</ol>

<p>Mistakes I made (probably):</p>

<ol>
<li>I gave short concise answers (someone told me they have very little time allotted for each applicant), but it backfired at me. I couldn’t explain my situation assuming throughout the interview that I would be asked for the documents when necessary.</li>
<li>I did not understand the concept of ‘strong ties’ probably and was unsuccessful in this case.</li>
<li>I did not make them aware that I received grants from my college</li>
<li>I should have given all my documents to them for review before anything.</li>
</ol>

<p>My understanding of the concept of ‘STRONG TIES’:</p>

<ol>
<li>You must prove that you will return to your home country after intended period of stay.</li>
<li>This can be achieved through ECONOMIC and SOCIAL & FAMILY ties
ECONOMIC ties: Can be demonstrated through propriety of Land, Stocks & Bonds, Gold and Real estate holdings. Documentation can provided in this case
SOCIAL & FAMILY: Can be demonstrated (????)</li>
</ol>

<p>What is the proper concept of ‘strong ties’? Please explain in detail</p>

<p>How do I show proof of SOCIAL & FAMILY ties? This is ripping me off. Is it possible through documentation or verbally only? (And should I say something showing proof, verbally, considering Point 3 under ‘Things to Note’?)</p>

<p>I did not understand what the visa interviewer meant by: 'You couldn't show strong ties like employment with your home country. After you graduate, you don't have means of support'</p>

<p>Please comment on my situation and please suggest me something honest and detailed.
What should I do for my next interview? How do I prepare myself?</p>

<p>The next Visa form I fill will ask me whether I was refused a U.S. visa or not and will ask for a subsequent explanation. What should I explain and will this affect me in my next visa interview?</p>

<p>Thank you for taking your time in reading the whole story. Responses will be highly appreciated. :D</p>

2

<p>I’m international too and I remember having to provide proof of ‘strong ties’. If your parents have documents on the house you own or other kind of land that would be helpful.It might help also if both your parents are living in the country you were living in and if they are both employed.
Also, did you take any proof from the school that you were going to come to the US? Saying that you were accepted here?</p>

3

<p>I’m also confused about the term “ties with country of residency”. Hope to get my visa on May 19.
Good luck with the next interview, PoKharaBoy. Btw, which country are you from?</p>

4

<p>for your next visa interview, I think you may just say, that during the first interview the visa officer didn’t give you enough time to explain the family&economic ties or something like that. And thanks for sharing your experience! very helpful for me. I will get a visa interview on 21th of June. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>Your story makes me feel worried about my visa interview. Jesus what should I do to prove the “ties”? My family doesn’t have family assets like lands or stock. Guess I should say, since my father works in the army, I will be a lieutenant when I graduate?? lol</p>

5

<p>@locatimator: No, I didn’t take any such document from my school. Do you think I should take one?</p>

<p>I STILL DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF ‘STRONG TIES’ :frowning: :(</p>

<p>I read in this website: [I&lt;/a&gt; have applied for F1 visa…bt got rejection coz they said that i seems p](<a href=“http://www.allinterview.com/showanswers/78601.html]I”>http://www.allinterview.com/showanswers/78601.html)</p>

<p>“Show proves of your close tie to your country. Its always
better to present your self as a worker. with evidences such
as payslips, recommendation letter from your employer/ study
leave letter, bank statement etc. Appearance matters as
well, meaning you should dress cooperate and neat.”</p>

<p>How do I present myself as a worker? Is it possible because I’m a full time high school student?</p>

<p>MORE SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!! :)</p>

6

<p>@pokharaboy
As far as I have heard(not that I have applied for a visa.I amnot for this year.),they(embassy people) review our documents from earlier time and just before the day of interview the decision is finalized whether to give him/her a visa or not…The interview is some what of a formality…Though very few times there previous decision may be revoked…Just what I have heard…</p>

7

<p>@RoCkErOnCc: I see, but I applied from elsewhere.</p>

<p>SUGGESTIONS PLEASE :(</p>

8

<p>Strong ties is something that will make you go back to your country when your visa expires. It’s just that they are afraid that if they give you a visa, and you don;t have a reason to go back to your country after studying, you will remain as an illegal in the US - which they don’t want to happen, this is all about ‘strong ties’
Yes I think you should have something from your school saying you were admitted! Don’t you have an I-20 or something from the school?</p>

9

<p>bump…</p>

10

<p>bump…</p>

11

<p>@PokharaBoy–May be the best option is to inform your college and request them to do sth…As far as I know, US Embassy doesn’t mess with students who got admitted to good college with fantastic aid!so if your college requests to the US Embassy over here, I think they won’t deny in your next application…</p>

12

<p>@pokharaboya–and yeah…all the best! tell your condition to college and ask for advise</p>

13

<p>Yeah, definitely don’t give up so easily.</p>

14

<p>@united academy and jiceo1: Thanks for the encouragement.</p>

<p>I definitely need more suggestions :frowning: Sorry for bugging everyone too much :p</p>

<p>Ok…I had more questions

  1. Will it be supportive if I bring statements from my school GC, Prinicpal, my Dad’s employer and my home country’s embassy that I will return back after my stay in the U.S.?
  2. Are my chances for getting a visa reduced due to a refusal? Or will my application be further scrutinized?
  3. This is my game plan for the next interview: I go to the VO and just right after saying ‘Good Morning’, I hand over my documents one after the other giving an explanation of what they contain (Assume that the VO did not ask for them). Will that be a good idea? (Also remember that they did not check all my documents in the first interview, READ FIRST POST)</p>

<p>Thanks for your answers everyone :)</p>

15

<p>

Bad idea. At one of my gazillion visa interviews I did hand over a document that the interviewer had not asked for. I immediately got it back with instructions not to hand over anything unless I was asked for it. If I had insisted on giving her more stuff after that… not sure what would have happened, but I am pretty sure it wouldn’t have ended well.</p>

<p>You can be confident that the reason for your initial visa denial will come up in your next interview. At that point you will have the opportunity to demonstrate your ties and offer supporting documents. </p>

<p>

How exactly would a letter from your principal or your dad’s employer show that you have ties to your home country? You probably don’t intent to return to school, and unless the letter from your dad’s employer contains a job offer, it doesn’t add much either. It wouldn’t hurt to have these documents but I would not bring them up except as a last resort.</p>

<p>Right after graduating from high school is a tricky time in a person’s life to prove ties to one’s home country, because most students don’t have many. You don’t need to return to finish school, you probably don’t have a job that’s waiting for you, you don’t own property that you need to take care of, and you don’t have dependents that rely on you coming back. This is probably the most convenient time for a young person to emigrate! That’s why most visa interviewers don’t seem to be very insistent on strong ties for college students. You were unlucky to get a particularly harsh interviewer. I hope you will have better luck next time!</p>

16

<p>@pokharaboy: according to my grandfather (this might not be too helpful but) if you have your family members outside of nepal then they should probably come back to Nepal so that the visa officers do not doubt that you will stay in the US. my parents are in the US right now and they will come back in june so that the visa people will know that they are here and they will only go back when i get my visa!!! i’m not too sure abt this but just a suggestion??</p>

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<p>Don’t show your parents’ bank statement if you are not asked for it. It’s a very bad move</p>

18

<p>@barium and TheSurvivor: Thanks :slight_smile: So should I go like: ‘May I get your permission to show you my documents?’ and then if the VO replies ‘Yes’, then I go with my plan. Is that OK?
I’m asking this because in my first interview, the VO did not ask for any documents and he was unaware of many things. I stood there waiting for him to ask for them, but soon I saw my refusal instead.</p>

<p>@barium: Can you tell me more of your interview experience? Seems that you were refused for a visa too.</p>

<p>@madonna220: For that reason, I plan to take my parents with me the next time so that the VO is aware of their presence in this country and it can also show ‘strong bonds’.</p>

<p>MORE SUGGESTIONS PLEASE :)</p>

19

<p>They will ask you how are you planning on financing your education? Your I-20 will say it because it will show how much money your school and your parents are contributed to your education. If they ask you question about it, just elaborate based on what your I-20 says. If you could not afford to pay, or if your education fee was not covered,the school would have never accepted you or give you an I-20 , right?</p>

<p>As far as attachment to your country. When you are asked why you want to study in the US?</p>

<p>You love your country, you would like to return and live there to contribute to its development but the education level is more advanced in the U.S. Give examples like competitive school programs, study abroad programs in your school curriculum. Explain to them how the U.S system will prepare you better to work in your country and give you the right skills and competitive advantage.</p>

<p>When you are asked if you have family in the U.S
If they are not your immediate family , then say no! because they will be useless to you once you arrive.By immediate family I mean, brothers and sisters, and parents</p>

<p>Say your entire immediate family is wherever you come from, you are planning on coming home every summer and you want to return to your country after your Undergraduate studies.</p>

<p>Don’t even speak about graduate schools.</p>

20

<p>PokharaBoy, luckily I was never denied a visa. I have had a myriad of interviews though because I have applied for three different visas in the past (J-1, F-1, and permanent resident, in that order).</p>