F1 visa renewal process for continuing to PhD
Updated on: 2019-11-17 - 3 mins read
F-1 Visa InterviewStudent VisaF-1 Visa RenewalF-1 Renewal 221GUS Visa ConsulateMS to PhD
Here I am sharing a F-1 visa renewal experience of a master’s graduate student continuing to PhD where a student was eligible for the dropbox method and later given a 221G with follow-up interview:
- The F1 visa is offered to students who want to pursue a degree in any US institutions.
- Students who acquired admission letters from US university should start on applying for F1 student visa at least two months prior to the semester start date at the desired university.
- The visa procedure includes an interview which is given by the student at a US VISA consular office in their home country.
- For the Visa interview, a few documents should be shown to the visa officer as a proof that the student is capable to study abroad, and he/she has enough funding sources to complete the degree.
- The visa interview includes document verification and fingerprint scanning which is mandatory for all visa types
Although the visa procedure is well-informed, it comes with a lot of unknown circumstances which are difficult to be managed. After five years of my first visa experience, I was required to renew my visa as it was about to expire in under six months. I also was visiting my home country, so it was a compulsion to renew my visa.
Here is my visa experience:
- I am pursuing my PhD in the same university where I did my masters so there was no change on my SEVIS number on my I20 document initially generated for my master’s degree.
- Since I had no change on my SEVIS number, maintained a continuous F-1 visa status throughout, applying for the same university, visa extension for me was through a dropbox process.
- I had to fill out a new DS-160 and a new visa application form online on US consulate website. Once I filled out my information, I was told that I am eligible for dropbox process.
- Dropbox process is where we drop off our documents through a teller at the consular office and we will be informed about our visa status online when we log into our account in US consulate website.
- When I arrived at the US consulate office in my home country, I was required to do the ten-print (fingerprint of ten fingers of both the hands) and then submit the documents.
- After submission, I was checking my visa status frequently which showed only submitted status for first fifteen days.
- On sixteenth day, I received a notification on my email that the status of my visa application has been changed. When I logged into my US consulate account I observed that my visa status has been changed from submitted to Administrative processing stage.
- I received another email in few minutes stating that I received 221G and I am required to appear for an interview at the consulate office.
- At this point of time, I had only five days before my scheduled departure from my home country back to USA.
- I was asked to book a 221G follow-up appointment through my online account. Typically, the dates for visa interview will be filled for up to two months so it was hard for me to believe that I would get my visa approved by the intended date of travel.
- I received another email in few minutes stating that I received 221G and I am required to appear for an interview at the consulate office.
- But to my surprise, when I logged into my account online, the dates for the interview were available from next day onwards.
- So, I booked the earliest interview slot and attended the interview.
- The interview process included some basic questions like the topic of my PhD degree and the intended graduation date and my progress in the degree till date.
- I answered all the questions confidently and my visa was approved on spot and my passport was taken by the consulate officer for visa printing.
- My F1 visa was renewed for five years more and I travelled to USA on the intended date.
Here I am sharing a F-1 visa renewal experience of a master’s graduate student continuing to PhD where a student was eligible for the dropbox method and later given a 221G with follow-up interview:
- Do not procrastinate the visa renewal process. I would suggest you start the process as soon as possible as the processing time greatly differs for individual cases so the estimation of the time is very difficult.
- Check your visa status regularly online as the status change notification email might get delayed.
- Do not take stress about the approval of visa, in turn, concentrate on submitting the correct documentation.
- For F-1 visa renewal, if you have multiple copies of your I20, submit the latest generated I20 as it might impact the visa process.
- 221G for F1 visa is different from 221G for any other visa status. I would suggest you refer to online groups of your specific visa status to determine the next steps.
- Lastly, I would suggest that you take approval letter from your manager or your supervisor for your travel as it might help validate your trip.