International Students who have gone through the US F-1 Visa Interview

[aiikookie]

I will be doing the interview around June-July in Toronto, Canada before school starts in August. I have a couple of questions regarding the process.

1- What kind of questions do I expect? Most importantly, if they ask if I plan on going back home after graduation, What do I say considering that we have to do residency for 3 years? Because in this case I would have to say that I plan on staying after graduation for residency
2- I have applied to dental schools and after 4 months I applied to 2 podiatry schools, When asked which schools I applied to, do I need to mention that I also applied to dental schools?
3- I heard that coming from war-torn countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria.. etc will make it difficult to get your visa approved, is this true? I am an Iraqi Citizen but I currently reside as a permanent resident in Canada (in the process of getting my canadian citizenship), when asked if I plan on going home after graduation, do I need to specify that I plan on going back to Canada and not Iraq?
4- My dad will be financing my education, but for the I-20 I was quoted $54,080 should be in my bank account. My dad can only support me by monthly basis and cannot deposit the full amount into my bank for I-20, so half of that amount will come from my Uncle, just for I-20 purposes, then I will return the money to him afterwards. Do I need to disclose that my Uncle is helping me with my I-20 considering that my dad will be financing my education?
5- and any general tips would be great.

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[deleted1138023]

Podiatry is already difficult with little return for the work put in. You’re an international student so it will be even harder. Some residencies will not accept you because of this. You sure you want to do this? Read the attending forum to see if podiatry is “worth it”

 

[aiikookie]

Yes I have done my research and asked around international students and my school has said all international students in the last 8 years have successfully matched. I'm confident in my choice. I have Canada as a backup as some provinces employ podiatrists

 

[deleted1138023]

Yes I have done my research and asked around international students and my school has said all international students in the last 8 years have successfully matched. I'm confident in my choice. I have Canada as a backup as some provinces employ podiatrists

God speed.

 

[Prehealth1011]

I went to a DO school with a bunch of canucks. They all kicked my ash in getting residency interview invites. It doesn’t matter who is financing that I20 finance thing as long as it covers the whole amount. Also consider DO. Ontario JUST opened up the borders for Canadians doing DO in the states

I predict a few new posters/school admins in this thread the next few days trying to snatch you up

 

[bloxxeeey]

Yes I have done my research and asked around international students and my school has said all international students in the last 8 years have successfully matched. I'm confident in my choice. I have Canada as a backup as some provinces employ podiatrists

They'll match, they may not matriculate into the program. I've seen this happen with two residents who I ran into during interviews again and asked them why they were reapplying into match and both said their programs had to let them go due to immigration issues. So just be prepared for that, you may lose a year, or four and walk out with 300k + of debt. If you do finish and graduate it pays off with a 80-120k job though!

 

[Bubuddy]

I will be doing the interview around June-July in Toronto, Canada before school starts in August. I have a couple of questions regarding the process.

1- What kind of questions do I expect? Most importantly, if they ask if I plan on going back home after graduation, What do I say considering that we have to do residency for 3 years? Because in this case I would have to say that I plan on staying after graduation for residency
2- I have applied to dental schools and after 4 months I applied to 2 podiatry schools, When asked which schools I applied to, do I need to mention that I also applied to dental schools?
3- I heard that coming from war-torn countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria.. etc will make it difficult to get your visa approved, is this true? I am an Iraqi Citizen but I currently reside as a permanent resident in Canada (in the process of getting my canadian citizenship), when asked if I plan on going home after graduation, do I need to specify that I plan on going back to Canada and not Iraq?
4- My dad will be financing my education, but for the I-20 I was quoted $54,080 should be in my bank account. My dad can only support me by monthly basis and cannot deposit the full amount into my bank for I-20, so half of that amount will come from my Uncle, just for I-20 purposes, then I will return the money to him afterwards. Do I need to disclose that my Uncle is helping me with my I-20 considering that my dad will be financing my education?
5- and any general tips would be great.

Canadian here, but never went through this interview at all, could be that I was born here and never left the continent ever in my life.

If you are feeling anxious about this, I would recommend speaking to an immigration lawyer. Now, I do not know if speaking to a Canadian or US one would make a difference but a US immigration lawyer would definitely know the process. These are very specific questions to your scenario and do not apply to many Canadian students studying in the US. From my experience, there is a slight bias going through the border with a Canadian passport as a student, because I find that my border times have been shorter compared to being a tourist.

 

[aiikookie]

This is why schools think SDN is affecting the number of applicants. Look, 5 replies and only 1 actually responded to my post. This is why I am hesitant sometimes to post as every time I post I have to run into the "reconsider podiatry" replies. Please stop replying to my posts if you are going to be like that, as I want actual answers and not career advice.

 

[bloxxeeey]

This is why schools think SDN is affecting the number of applicants. Look, 5 replies and only 1 actually responded to my post. This is why I am hesitant sometimes to post as every time I post I have to run into the "reconsider podiatry" replies. Please stop replying to my posts if you are going to be like that, as I want actual answers and not career advice.

Just giving my experiences, having also been from a foreign country I found out how hard it was to stay in a program, I got lucky and married into a green card before I graduated school but I was stressed for the first 2-3 years of school about what would happen.

 

[aiikookie]

Just giving my experiences, having also been from a foreign country I found out how hard it was to stay in a program, I got lucky and married into a green card before I graduated school but I was stressed for the first 2-3 years of school about what would happen.

i understand. But it gets very annoying when my questions are left unanswered because all people reply with is telling me how hard the process will be. I know how hard it will be and I've done my research and I have back up plans so it would be great if someone can answer my posts for once without telling me I'm making a bad decision. Mods need to enforce people to stay on the topic of the post.

 

[bloxxeeey]

1- They don't care where you go, they just want to know who you are, what you are doing and possibly why.
2- You can or cannot mention it, they won't necessarily care if you applied to dental school but they may ask why.
3- You may be under more scrutiny, I didn't have much coming from the country I'm from.
4- You should disclose your uncle, they asked me for some bank statements asking for proof that I had the money for financing tuition and living expenses, some banks will give you loans to go overseas, I would have something from them saying you're approved for the money even if you don't use the loans.
5- Just be kind and friendly.

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[FrancescaReynold]

Hey, so I am a foreign student who is close to graduation. Yes, I have matched and yes they have already started my H1b visa process. You really need to vet the residency programs before you pick externships and ask them straight up if they will sponsor H1b. If they beat around the bush, you know where not to go.

During my visa interview, I wasn't asked many questions because I held an F1 visa before. I am from one of those red-flagged countries you mentioned and I had no problem getting the visa. I was just asked where am I going? I said podiatry. They asked, med school, right? I said yes. And that was it

However, the very first time I was getting my F1 visa, the officer asked me who was paying and I said my dad. He asked what he does and that was it. Nothing about what other schools I applied to etc.

Be confident and truthful during your visa interview. They already know a lot about you based on your application.

 

[aiikookie]

Hey, so I am a foreign student who is close to graduation. Yes, I have matched and yes they have already started my H1b visa process. You really need to vet the residency programs before you pick externships and ask them straight up if they will sponsor H1b. If they beat around the bush, you know where not to go.

During my visa interview, I wasn't asked many questions because I held an F1 visa before. I am from one of those red-flagged countries you mentioned and I had no problem getting the visa. I was just asked where am I going? I said podiatry. They asked, med school, right? I said yes. And that was it

However, the very first time I was getting my F1 visa, the officer asked me who was paying and I said my dad. He asked what he does and that was it. Nothing about what other schools I applied to etc.

Be confident and truthful during your visa interview. They already know a lot about you based on your application.

Thank you this helps a lot.