Hi.
I was wondering if anyone hear could share there experiences as to getting a student visa? My son has been accepted at the local college here and we have all the forms completed.
We have been told that the forms have to be mailed to the US Embassy from the UK. How long did it take to recieve the student visa is one question the other being once he has it can he then fly back immediatley with visa in hand or does he have to wait a certain amount of days before the semester starts before he can enter the country.
I am hoping that the visa is approved.
Did anyone experience problems or were refused, panic panic!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
am i right in thinking he is a brit and has got a place in a US educational institution? If so, my husband and i have been throught the process.
1) you will recieve a form from the sponsoring establishment (ie the college)
2) this goes to the US embassy in London along with all the paperwork they require - see the US embassy in UK website - and the processing fee is about GBP 35. Send as much information as possible. Copuies of birth certifiacte, any driving licences, bank statements..anything you think is relevant. also incluce copies of his return travel itenary ie the return plance ticket.
3) I changed my visa status whilst i was in teh UK over Easter. It arrived Thursday 27th March and was returned to me on Monday 8th April. I used a courier company at Heathrow airport to do all teh work for me as you cannot drop your application off to the embassy by hand any more, you have to mail it. This company vuisit the embassy every day and i found it on the US embassy website. They were really helpful and they only charged 25 pounds.
4) on a student visa you can return to the US 30 days befoer teh start date of your visda. Make sure you confirm this with your college- they will write the date on teh form that they give your son and the embassy will use this date as teh start date!
hope this helps!
I am in Texas on s student visa, and as far as i remember it took about 10 days to get it back! I went to England to sort it all out, and then sat and waited and left the nextday, the best part is you dont have to proof of return so if you leave from America on a cheap ticket you can use it to come back, and not have to prove that you are returning to England! (hope that made sense)....How are the fees where you are? I am looking to start at a 4 year college, and it is approx $4000 a semester!!!!
I've heard via the radio that student visas for overseas students wishing to study here are taking much longer to process since the 9/11 attacks. Some of the terrorists were on student visas (including for flight schools) so the immigration authorities are being more stringent in their criteria for issuing them.
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