Reacting to the reaction of Indian students being rejected during F1 visa interviews despite not lying, former visa officer Yvette Bansal said Indians are taught to memorize everything and they treat the visa interview as a test to crack and tell rehearsed answers. Bansal said that even if these rehearsed answers are not lies, they will sound like lies to U.S. visa officers because they receive very different training. Bansal said if you feel uncomfortable speaking and suddenly your tone changes, as if you were reading from an artificial intelligence, the visa officer will suspect you are lying.
If what the visa officer says is incorrect, please object.
Bansal said in the podcast that a lot of mind games go on behind the scenes of the brief visa interview. Indian students have great respect for visa officers and will sometimes agree with their assumptions, even if they are incorrect. Bansal said this is related to cultural differences. Indian culture emphasizes harmony and humility, while American officers like to respond directly. But the visa interview is not a place for modesty, and if the visa officer gets the wrong idea about the applicant, the applicant must object and correct him or her.If when both parties go to apply for visas, and the husband speaks on behalf of the wife when she is asked a question, this is also a red flag to the visa officer.
Every student’s answer is the same
Bansal said every student said they wanted to go to the United States and work with Professor XYZ. They are also often advised to practice mock interviews, but American culture is completely different. Indians think of it like another test they have to pass, so they know everything by heart, but this is not personal income tax.
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Bansal points out two opposite situations that are both examples of bad interviews. When the visa officer asks the applicant a question and only gives a one or two word answer. Such interviews can seem vague. On the other hand, problems can also arise if applicants overshare because there is a fine line between the two. Sometimes applicants panic about unnecessary documents that the visa officer doesn’t even want to see.
