sankar@Shasta.ARPA (07/24/85)
This is a reply to all the visa questions that have been posted over the last month. Regarding the difficulty of getting F-1 visas for students: I had opportunity, when I was in India last month, to experience the situation on one particular day at the embassy. That day visas were being refused. However, this is the season for a large number of F-1 visas to be issued, and we will all know the latest situation in a month or two when students start coming in. Usually, they are looking for convincing arguments that one will return to India. However, from my experience, I have noted that there are periods when visas are issued to nearly everybody, and there are periods when very few get visas. And the situation varies quite rapidly. I believe that in May-June 1981, it was very difficult to get visas, but in July-August, it became very easy. Having siblings or parents in the US usually is not good. Also all financial support must be either from the University or from ones family in India. Incidentally, I had an experience during this trip to India which I think is worth sharing with all the other F-1 visa holders. When one leaves the US, they have to take with them an I-20 form from the University. If their already existing I-20 is LESS than an year old, then a stamp is placed on that by the school, otherwise, a new I-20 has to be issued. The age of the I-20 is counted from the time it was issued to the date of re-entry to the US. Even if the I-20 is less that an year old, a new one can be issued. If an old I-20 is being used, then it has already been used for a previous entry into the US. On the first entry with an I-20, the immigration officals take away the first page and give you the rest, which is what you get stamped for subsequent use. This is what I did -- used an old I-20, since my last trip to India was only around 10 months ago. The immigration officials in New York said that the I-20 was faulty since it did not have the first page and they claimed that Stanford had screwed up. Back at Stanford, the Stanford International Centre claims that New York screwed up. Anyway, its I that ends up suffering, and I am reasonably sure that its New York that screwed up. This has happened to other friends of mine, and actually, I do not know of anyone who has entered with an already used I-20 who has not had this problem. So I recommend that one always uses a fresh I-20. Back to the visa questions for spouses: Getting an F-2: Yes, I too have heard of problems, but I think there are many success stories that we never hear of. Also those being rejected always fall into one of the following categories: (a) They are close to graduation(as specified by the I-20) and so the consulate people do not feel the need for the spouse to go to the US for so short a time. They see a potential immigrant is such cases. (b) The student does not have sufficient finances to support his/her spouse and the extra money is either from loans in the US or from India.(if the extra money was the students own savings, then there would be no problem). (c) Proper documents are not submitted. When applying for a student visa, no documents are asked for except the passport and the I-20. However, while applying for the F-2 visa, I believe they also insist on proper birth certificates of both husband and wife, and also proper marriage certificates. Matriculation certificate is not sufficient for a birth certificate, and also marriage certificate has to satisfy some requirements. Usually, while applying for an F-2 visa, many people are sent back once or twice since they do not have the necessary documents. And India, depending on where one is born, getting a birth certificate can take quite a while. I would be interested in knowing cases where F-2 visas have been rejected to people who do not fall into any of the above categories. Also, I would be interested in hearing of success stories also. I am sure there are many others who have such concerns, so it will be best to continue this discussion on the net. Converting F-2 to F-1 and vice versa is quite routine, except that INS does not like people switching between the two visas a lot. Joint sponsorship is common, and I know of one case where the wife is still in India. In this case, the husband has been given an H-1 visa, and the wife is eligible for an H-4 visa. Only getting an H-4 from India is more difficult than getting an F-2. However, I think she will be getting her H-4 shortly. Even if she does not get an H-4, she will still get a green card along with her husband. Sriram.