All about Visas

Getting a student visa is the real end to the months of meticulous planning and ork to study abroad. Countries make it more and more difficult to apply for visas, but as long as you’re ahead of the game, you will be approved for a student visa with almost no hassles

THE SUCCESSFUL VISA INTERVIEW CHECKLIST
* Converse in fluent English
* Be concise; the visa interview is only a few minutes long
* Have all your documents ready and neatly organised
* Be positive, polite and confident in your responses
* Speak for yourself; you are being questioned, not your parents
* Convince the interviewing officer that you have reasons for returning to India after the course. Either mention career opportunities or family responsibilities in India – any reason relevant to you. This is entirely subjective
* You may have to answer questions relating to career opportunities in India in your field, as well as questions about your family and social ties, so be ready to demonstrate how you will maintain these relationships
* Articulate how your chosen programme fits into your career aims and why you prefer to study it in the country of your preference
* Stress that your main purpose of going abroad is to study. Every candidate is a potential immigrant and countries are wary of accepting people who want to be employed and eventually settled there
* If anybody in your family has studied in that country and has returned to India, impress it upon the interviewer
* If anybody in your family relies on you for financial support, you will have to tell the interviewer how your family intends to take care of itself in your absence. If the interviewer feels your presence in India is crucial to your family, your visa application may be denied

THE QUICK VISA DOCUMENT CHECKLIST
Education counsellor Jayanti Ghose provides a list of the most commonly required documents for a visa application. As visa rules are constantly revised, please check with the embassy/immigration department of the country you are going to before applying.
“The admission offer (e.g. I-20 in the case of the US) by the university; student’s proof of residence; passport with enough years of validity; financial documents in support of cost of education, living expenses, etc; intention to return validated by sufficient ties to the home country; all documents in support of education, health, identity, etc and photographs (as specified for the country) are the usual requirements. Details of documentation are provided on the immigration website of the country (e.g. Home Office UK Border Agency, US Embassy, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, etc) where a student is planning to study, as also the university website.”

Volume 3 Issue 4