An Embassy Official's 5 Tips to Passing Your Visa Interview

Read Time: 5 Minutes

Visa interviews are a 10-minute interview that can literally change your life’s trajectory.

No pressure, right?

The good news, though, is that there are tips and strategies that increase your chances of getting approved.

To get the inside scoop, I spoke to a former embassy official who spent two years reviewing visa applications.

Here are her 5 biggest tips:

1. Be patient

Depending on where you live, you may need to wait for a significant amount of time before you’ll be able to get a visa interview.

For this reason, it’s strongly recommended that you plan ahead, get all your admission paperwork done with your school, and get the I-20 as soon as possible.

You’ll need the I-20 to make a visa appointment.

The sooner you’re in the queue, the better.

You can check the current wait time for an appointment at your local embassy here.

2. Be honest

Yes, your mother’s #1 rule applies to visa interviews too.

This is likely your first visa interview. Embassy officials do it 8 hours a day, every day. They are practically human lie detectors, and if you come across as less than honest then your interview could be over before it starts.

3. Don’t be too honest

Many people that want to come study in the U.S. have larger aspirations than “just” a U.S. degree.

Maybe their goal is to get a work visa.

Or even a green card.

If that’s you, then awesome.

Just don’t talk about it during your visa interview.

Remember, the student visa is a non-immigrant visa. This means that it is not intended for people that want to move to the U.S.

Instead, its purpose is for those that want to come to the U.S., study, and then return to their home country.

If you have plans beyond that, then great.

Just keep that part to yourself during your interview.

4. Have evidence of ties to your home country

Embassy officials will look for evidence that you plan on returning to your home country when your program of study is over.

This type of evidence could include property deeds or bank accounts in your home country, a well-defined plan for how your program of study will help your career when you return home, etc.

Whatever you have, bring it with you. The embassy official might not ask for it, but it’s good to have just in case.

5. Be able to explain your choice of school and program of study.

Again, this all comes down to the embassy official’s confidence that you are interested in studying in the U.S. In order to convince them, you should have a basic understanding of the school that issued your I-20 and your intended program of study.

The embassy official I spoke with told me about an application that spent 2 solid minutes talking about his desire to work in the U.S., then could barely manage to say 3 sentences about his school and program of study.

The interview ended right there.

“Denied. Sounds like you want a work visa, and good luck getting that approved while outside the U.S. and without a job offer from a U.S. company.'“

You don’t have to be an expert on your chosen school, but you should be able to give some basic information about why you chose it.

Think geography, school size, class size, professor experience, etc.

Be able to explain how the program of study will help your career when you return to your home country

BONUS TIP

If you have been denied a student visa, you do have the ability to apply again…

BUT!

You must provide evidence to address the reason that you were initially denied.

As odd as it may sound, in many ways an embassy is just like any other workplace.

If you’re working retail and a customer asks for a discount and Tina says no, but then Tommy says yes, it’s going to cause some workplace friction.

Embassies are the same way.

If Applicant A gets denied by Tina, then interviews again with the exact same information and Tommy approves, then there will be both personal resentment between Tina & Tommy as well as questions from their superiors over why the officials reached different conclusions based off the same information.

If your visa application gets denied (and fingers-crossed it doesn’t), then you will be provided with a written statement of why you were denied, which is your key for how to improve your chances of getting approved the next time.

There you have it- five tips (plus a bonus tip) directly from an embassy official.

I hope everyone has a great week.

-Josh