10 TIPS TO ACE YOUR VISA INTERVIEW
Visa interviews can be nerve-wracking. When you are looking forward to getting into your dream university abroad and have almost everything in place, the pressures of wanting to ace that visa interview can be tremendous.
We have put together 10 tips that can help you breeze through your visa interview process.
#1. Speak for yourself
Confidence is key to acing your visa interview. The consular should know that you are an independent individual who is capable of handling himself/herself in any situation. Make sure that you speak up for yourself.
Do not bring parents or other family members into the interview room. This could reflect badly on you. If you are a minor applicant wanting to apply for a high school program, it is understandable that you may need your parents’ assistance to answer certain questions like those regarding funding. In this case, parents should remain in the waiting room unless called for.
#2. Keep It Concise
There are vast volumes of visa applications that come into consulates daily. To speed up the process, consular officers have several interviews scheduled every day. There is no doubt that they are hard-pressed for time.
Your first impression matters here. The officer will probably decide whether to give you the visa or not in the first couple of minutes. So, it is best to keep your answers to their questions short, clear and concise.
#3. Practice Communicating In English
It is essential to anticipate that your visa interview will not be conducted in the vernacular tongue and will be in English. Despite your TOEFL or IELTS scores, how you communicate during the interview matters. Practice your language skills with friends and family.
If you are going abroad to study English, make sure that you are aware of how knowing the language will help you get better career opportunities in your home country.
#4. Bring Supplemental Documentation
You will hardly have around 5 minutes of interview time. Keep your supplementary documents organized and handy. It should be clear to the interviewer what each document signifies, at first glance.
Handing out long-written articles maybe be difficult to evaluate. They could even annoy the interviewer.
#5. Explain Your Ties With Your Homeland
Most consulates are under the impression that all applicants to non-immigrant or student visas intend to continue staying in the country that they are going to. In such scenarios, it is vital to convince the officer otherwise.
Elaborate on the deep ties you have with your motherland. This could be your family, a job, financial prospects that you will inherit, etc. There is no one perfect way to explain this. It varies for each individual and depends on what and how you portray yourself.
#6. Be Ready For Questions Regarding Dependents
If you are leaving your spouse and children behind and are going abroad to study, it raises the question of how they will be supported and cared for in your absence.
Especially, if you are the sole breadwinner of the family, chances are high for the consulate to think that your family will need you to remit an income from the country you are going to. This will lead to them denying your visa application. Keep records and proof of your savings or any other means by which your dependents will get by while you are away.
#7. Know Your Career Prospects
The consulate is interested in knowing how well you understand the career prospects in your home country. This is simply because they want to make sure that your primary reason for travelling to their country is to study and not to work and make a living there.
Many students do, however, take on part-time jobs while studying, however, this is mostly to aid their education financially. So, you must be clear with the fact that you are indeed looking forward to returning home after the studies.
#8. Understand How Your Education Will Help Your Career
Being able to relate what you plan to study abroad to how it will help you grow your career in your motherland is just as important as knowing your career prospects. These two factors together, when articulated properly during the visa interview, will help you convince the consular officer that your objective is after all to gain knowledge.
#9. Accept The Odds
If many students from your country have stayed back where they immigrated to, consulates tend to be more skeptical about approving your visa. Applicants from countries with an economic crisis may also face a similar situation.
This is not by any means your fault. However, accept the situation and be prepared to have more questions being shot at you regarding employment prospects and the job market in your homeland.
#10. Remain Calm And Optimistic
Past applicants who have successfully gotten their visas say that the key to ace the visa interview is to portray confidence and positivity. Your body language also matters.
Under no circumstances should you provoke the consular officer or engage in an argument with him/her. Even if you are being denied the visa, politely ask the consular which documents you had missed out on and try to the reason for your rejection in writing.
In Conclusion
Prepare for your visa interview and plan your answers ahead of time. Stay confident and keep your facts and documents ready. The interview shouldn’t seem too stressful now.
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