F1 Visa Experience
Status: Approved
Date: July 19, 2023
Consulate: Kathmandu, Nepal
Major: Computer Science
Scholarship: 31k
COA after scholarship: 23k
VO: Straight hair
Time: 08:15
I reached the US embassy about an hour earlier than the appointment time. Hundreds of applicants were waiting for the gate to open and about 75% of them were for tourist visas. My turn was after about 50-60 applicants. I was very nervous in the beginning, so I spoke with some other applicants (some of them were for tourist visa) to boost my confidence and it worked! I had to stay in the queue for about 30 minutes. There were a lot of rejections (even a lot of the tourist visa applicants were denied!) that day. I could hardly see a green slip for students who were applying for bachelor's. So, I felt very nervous and scared of getting a yellow slip.
Me: Hello Officer, how are you? (Smiling)
VO: I’m doing great. What about you? Can you pass me your documents, please?
Me: I am good, officer. Here’re my documents.
VO: Why the USA?
Me: Ma’am, I have been interested in the field of computer science since an early age and I want to pursue my career in the field of AI. For that, (Interrupted)
(There were two VOs (idk if he was a VO) inside, and they were discussing my I-20. They were talking about my college and the scholarship given to me.)
VO: Who’s your sponsor?
Me: My parents are my sponsors, ma’am. My father owns hardware and he earns about 20k USD annually from there, and we have 3 public vehicles from where we earn about 10k USD annually. And my mother works in a high school and she earns about 9k USD including her income from tuition. (She closed the small hole from where our sound passed inside. She started discussing again with another person(I don’t know if he was VO). This time, I could not listen to anything as that whole was closed. They talked for about 3 minutes! So, I was shivering and praying that she would pick up the green slip.)
(I was not very confident while answering this question. So, I became very nervous again)
VO: What is your plan after graduation?
Me: Ma’am, After my graduation, I want to return back to my home country and contribute to the field of AI. I will utilize my knowledge and skills gained in the college to develop the Nepali Language into International Language Models. Currently, there are some AI systems that primarily support widely spoken languages, leaving smaller languages like Nepali. So, I want to develop AI systems that can understand and process the Nepali language. This will help in the advancement of the Nepali AI sector and promote the Nepali language into the international AI landscape. (I was very confident while answering this question, and she carefully listened to my answer)
VO: Did you give any English proficiency tests?
Me: Yes ma’am, I did Duolingo English Test.
VO: How much did you score?
Me: 125, ma’am.
VO: That’s great.
(Now, she again closed that small hole and started looking at my transcript. I could only see her reaction that time. She was surprised seeing my grades and GPA. She showed my GPA to another person and they discussed it again for a while. Then, she started typing.)
VO: From which high school did you graduate?
Me: I graduated from (High School Name), ma’am.
VO: Okay, congratulations! Your VISA is APPROVED! (Yayyyy!!)
Me: Thank you so much, ma’am.
(I ran immediately and got scolded by the first guard and slowed down.)
(I ran again after passing that door and got scolded by the next guard outside and moved slowly again.)
My suggestion:
Everything matters! I see that most of the applicants say that confidence is the key. It’s not only about confidence, your high school GPA, and scholarships matter too. All the best!