Profile Details:
University: Northern Illinois University
course: MS in Industrial and Systems engineering
First Attempt
Hyderabad Consulate
Date: June 2017
Status: Rejected
Counter No: 15
Visa Interview Experience:
ME: Hello! Good morning.
VO: Good morning, How are you?
ME: I am good, how are you?
VO: Good, Northern Illinois?
ME: Yes, Northern Illinois University.
VO: What's your GRE?
ME: 293 with 151 in Quant.
VO: What's your bachelor's percentage?
ME: I have scored a CGPA of 7 on a scale of 10.
VO: And do you have backlogs?
ME: Yes! I had one backlog but I cleared it later.
VO: Why this University?
ME: NIU offers a combination of Industrial and Systems engineering program while the other I received admits from offer only Industrial Engineering program. This is a rare program and has all the courses I am planning to study.
VO: How many credits program is it?
ME: It's a 30 Credit hour program and It's mandatory for me to take a minimum of 9 credits per semester as a full-time student.
VO: Okay! Tell me more about the course (she stopped typing, looked at me with a proper eye contact and was paying 100% attention).
ME: The University as a part of this program offers a "Decision Analysis" course what is rare and is available with the Industrial and systems engineering Program. They also have important subjects like supply chain management and a certified Six Sigma course. I am also in touch with Prof. XXX the chief of Industrial Engineering Department, I have gone through his research in the field of Supply chain management and would love to be mentored by him.
VO: When did you Graduate?(started typing again)
ME: I graduated in 2016
VO: What have you been doing since then.
ME: I have been working with the Amazon Development Center since my graduation.
VO: Amazon?
ME: Yes, Amazon.
VO: How are you planning to fund your education?
ME: My father is sponsoring my education and we have a savings of 36 Lakhs.
VO: Do you have a loan?
ME: No, only family savings
VO: What do your parents do?
ME: He is a retired Central Government employee and was working with the Airports Authority of India and my mother is a home maker.
VO: What's the annual Income?
ME: Our Family income is close to 15 Lakhs per annum that Includes My father's pension, agricultural and Rental income of 7.8 Lakhs and My income of 7 Lakhs per annum.
VO: Can I see your passbook?
Passed her my fathers passbook with savings in another bank letter mentioning my bank balance.
VO: (while opening the book) Do you have any siblings
ME: Answered.
VO: Why do you have these bulk transactions in the month of May?
ME: My father invested his retirement benefits in various sources and now since I need them for my education he took them back.
VO: (started typing something returned my passbook, i20, Passport with a green paper i.e 214b) I cannot approve your visa this time the reason is mentioned in this (pointed towards the green paper.
ME: Thank you ma’am (and started collecting my papers)
VO: (While I was just about to leave) I would suggest you look into your financials.
ME: Okay! fake smiled and left.
Second Attempt
Hyderabad Consulate
Date:July 2017.
Status: Approved
VO asked the guy before me his GRE and several technical questions (how many bits make a byte, what is printed on this piece of paper, and more)
He then told him very clearly that he will never go to the US as a student because it was his 3rd interview and all 3 times he came up with a different GRE score.
The VO said, "when you do that that means you are lying to us and all that is recorded here, and when you lie to us you are never going to the US as a student". The guy before me tried to interrupt him and asked if he can appear again the VO replied."Sir, hear me, Let me finish. You can appear as many times you want but you will never go to the United States as a student, period".
The guy was collecting his documents and the VO signed me to come forward.
ME: Good morning.(I thought I'll ask how he was doing today but thought it was a bad idea)
VO: Good morning sir. Have you seen me before?
ME: No I haven't seen you before.
VO: You have already appeared once?
ME: Yes this is my second attempt.
VO: What is your GRE?
ME: 293 with 151 in quant
VO: What's ur bachelor's percentile?
ME: It's 70%. I got a CGPA of 7 on a scale of 10.
VO: What's first Law of Thermo Dynamics.
ME: Answered
VO: How are you sponsoring your education.
ME: My father and brother(cousin) are sponsoring Me. I also have an approved bank loan of 25 Lakhs.(I stressed on the loan part)
VO: What do they do?
ME: My father is a retired central government employee and my brother works for cognizant.
VO: Can I see your loan letter?
I passed it to him
VO: Is this is a legitimate copy (gave a pause)?
ME: Yes it is.
VO: (rephrased) Is this legitimate because I am going to send it to our fraud team.
ME: No problem (with a smile)
The VO looked at the letter, stared at the hologram typed something from my letter and then returned my i20 and my loan sanctioned letter and kept my passport aside.
VO: Good luck, sir! we are done!! (Since he stared at the hologram, returned my letter and kept my passport I thought that he approved my visa)
ME: Thank you! (collected my documents and came out happily, on my way out I realised that the VO never said that my visa is approved so I was like "Damn! why am I so excited")
I was checking for my visa status every couple of hours. It displayed "Administrative processing" all the time and finally the following day when I checked again at 4:45 pm the pop-up showed "Issued"
Note: Content in this article is taken from a public forum moderated by Yocket. Personal details which may reveal the identity have been removed in order to maintain annonimity.
