 This video is going to help you smash your F1 visa interview, so keep on watching. Hi guys, my name is Shachi and I'm a travel and visa coach. On this channel, you will find tons of useful videos on the US visa process, so make sure that you check them out. Now I am starting a new video series and this video series is all about the F1 visa interview. So they're going to be about five or six videos which is really going to help you, so make sure that you subscribe, make sure that you press the bell icon so that you don't miss out on any of the video. Now this video is the first one in this series and today's video is going to be all about the basics of F1 visa. So all your doubts and queries that you have about F1, what exactly is F1, who can apply for it, what is it that I need and how do I prepare for the interview, this video has got you covered. So let's get started. So first let's start with what exactly is an F1 visa. Now the F1 visa is a student visa which means that it is issued to international students who wish to come to the US and study in a full-time academic program. The admission can be to a high school, to a private elementary school, to a university, to a college or even to academic programs such as language training. The F1 visa also has a dependent component to it, so the dependent of F1 is called the F2 visa and this is issued to spouse of those students who come to the US on F1. So let's say that you're married and you're applying for an F1 visa then your spouse is eligible to come to the US and stay with you under the F2 visa. Now the F1 visa is valid for the duration of your course but once you finish your academic program you're also allowed to work for a certain period of time in the United States and this is what is called the OPT that is optional practical training which means that once you finish your academic program you can apply for the OPT and under the OPT you're allowed to work in the United States for a certain period of time. So now that you understood what exactly is an F1 visa let's talk about how you can get yourself the F1 visa or rather what is the process that you need to follow. So the first step here would be to get an admission into the school or the university of your choice and for this you will have to follow the admission process which is being you know recommended or being followed by your school or university. Normally this would involve writing in online exams such as GRE, TOEFL, submitting an essay or an SOP and giving interviews. So once you have an admit the real visa process begins and the first step here would be to pay the service fee. This is basically the database where you need to get yourself registered. So once you pay the service fee you will be given a service ID and this ID essentially means that you are allowed to enter the United States as a student and once you have your service ID you can apply or you can ask your college or university to issue you the ID 20. Now ID 20 is the most important document in your student visa process. This basically gives you a go ahead to apply for the F1 visa and ID 20 contains a lot of important details. It will mention your service ID, it will mention the college or the university to which you've got an admit, it'll mention which program that you're going to be attending in that particular school or university and most importantly it mentions how much this education is going to cost you and how exactly you're funding it. And remember when you go for the visa interview you're also required to carry the ID 20 and hand it over to the visa officer along with your passport. So now that you have your admit, you have your ID 20 and you have paid the service fee you can begin the actual F1 visa process. Do keep in mind that you can apply for the F1 visa 120 days before your college start date. That's the earliest you can apply for the F1 visa. So let's say that your college begins in August, the earliest you can schedule your visa interview would be in April. So with this sorted let's talk about the steps in the visa process. First step would be to fill your DS160. DS160 is an online application form and this form is available at the US consular or embassy website and this is the starting point to your F1 visa process. This form is about six pages long and it essentially asks for details such as personal information, work information, academic information, US point of contact information about your family and so on. So on this channel we actually have a lot of videos on filling the DS160 form you can check out these videos. So once you've filled your DS160 form and you have submitted it, the next step would be to book your appointment and to pay the visa fees. And when you book your appointment there are two dates that you need to book. The first one is to give your biometrics and your photograph and the second one is for the actual visa interview. So depending upon the availability, depending upon which city that you're giving the interview from, you will be given a list of options of the available time slots and dates and as per your convenience you can go ahead and schedule your biometric as well as your visa interview. Now many times I get asked that is it possible to give these two things in different locations especially now this year since due to COVID the slots are limited and availability is limited and the answer is yes, you can, you can give your biometric from one city and give your visa interview from another city. So if you're facing any problem of slot availability and this is the only way in which things are working out for you, go ahead and do that. Now for the interview process of course this is the most important step in your F1 visa journey and you need to clear this visa interview to get your F1 so thorough preparation of this interview is extremely important. In the upcoming videos in the series I will be talking more and more about interview preparation. In the meanwhile however you can check out the other videos we have on this channel regarding the US interview process and you can also book a consultation session with me. This will be a one-to-one session where we can discuss your profile and I can help you prepare for the visa interview. The details of this is also in the description box below there's a link through which you can go ahead and book your session. Now that we are clear about the F1 visa process let's talk about the document checklist. So what are the documents that you would need for your visa interview. Now essentially these documents can be classified into three separate headings the essentials, the work or academic information documents and the financial documents. Under essentials come documents such as your passport, your I-20, your DS-160 form. Under the academic and the work documents come things like you know the admit that you've got to the university, your test course of GRE, TOEFL, your transcripts and if you're working then proof that you're employed, your pay slips, a letter of recommendation from your employer and so on and under the financial or the funding section come all the documents which basically prove that you have the financial resources. So let's say that your parent is sponsoring you then this will include their bank statements, their IDR return, their pay slips, proof of funds and so on. So the document checklist is quite extensive and to just have you covered we have a PDF which basically lists all the documents that you would require under each of these headings. The link for that is in the description box so you can just click that link it's a free PDF and download it. Now that you have the document checklist sorted let's quickly talk about what are the most important interview questions that you have to prepare for and there now this will obviously vary depending upon your profile and background but essentially there are four to five questions which are invariably asked and these are what is the purpose of your visit, why USA for your education, why this particular course so be it your master's, undergrad, whatever it is that you're applying for why pursue this course, what are your future plans and how are you funding your education. So it is very important for you to be thoroughly prepared for these five or six questions which are invariably asked in all F1 visa interviews and like I mentioned earlier in the upcoming videos in this series I'm going to be talking more and more about these interview questions but in the meanwhile you can also check out the F1 interview course that we have. This course consists of 11 video modules which goes through all these important questions and it gives you sample answers, it gives you templates and there's a worksheet which will help you prepare for these questions. So this course has helped tons of students so far and I'm really sure that it's going to help you as well. The link for this F1 prep course is in the description box below make sure that you check it out. So this was all about the basics of F1 visa. I hope that this video all the basic doubts or queries that you will have about what exactly is F1 and what do I need to do about it is answered. If you have any more questions feel free to leave them in the comment section below. You can also DM me on Instagram, Instagram handle is at shachi.mall. The next video in this series will be about real F1 visa interview experiences. So I'm going to be talking about actual F1 visa interviews with case studies, what were the questions asked, what did the candidate answer and how exactly did those interviews go. So this is going to be really helpful for you to get a feel of the actual visa interview so stay tuned for the next video in this series. In the meanwhile feel free to contact me you can book a consultation session with me to help you prepare. You can also take a mock or a practice interview. This is very similar to the actual visa interview and we will take you through all the questions that get asked and help you prepare for the day. Like I said all these details in the description box below so make sure that you have a look check them out and yeah take care, take really good care of yourself. I'll see you in the next one signing off for now. Bye.