pitanje u vezi sa F-1

[LibelaBg]

Dear Mrs. Elizabeth,

I have received a letter of acceptance from Michigan State Uni (MA degree). Also, Teaching Assistantship was offered to me, and I have accepted their offer and now I am waiting for my I-20 documents to arrive. But, although I have get what I wanted after almost a year of preparation- tests, documents, written sample- I can not be happy as I read on the USA embassy web page that being accepted by USA University doesn't have to be a guarantee for obtaining a student F-1 Visa. Are some cases of refusal familiar to you? I would be so disappointed to fail on that last step, and I don't know how to improve my chances for getting it? Will you organize some seminars in the near future regarding this subject?

Best regards

[elz]

Congratulations! This is great news and please send the acceptance and info to us so we can add it to success stories. Sharing a success story us provides us with an opportunity to show that Serbian students can succeed. Believe it or not, each record that we have for students that go to the USA serves to encourage US institutions to provide more and more opportunities for students from Serbia. We need quantative figures to make a case for Serbian students. Also we are working hard on developing an alum association so that students studying in the USA know one another and hopefully can form professional links for life.

Now for the visa. Although there are no guarantees just as the consular information states, there are some general guidelines that tend to make a reasonable case for a visa. One of the more common problems with student visas concerns the ability to cover the costs of the education. Now it sounds as if in your case your education is funded by the university - this is the most common combination here and there are usually no problems in this case. For example, of the students that we have worked with at IAC, we have never had a visa refusal - this is because the students have everything that they need - either their education is fully covered by the college or university that they are attending or in the event that there is an amount that the student needs to cover, then the student has that amount available. For example, (since I have permission to use this example from the student) we have an undergraduate that has just been accepted into Kenyon College (wonderful private liberal arts college for undergraduate programs). The yearly cost of his education is $50,270.00. His financial aid package is $47,270.00. He has documentation to show that he has the remaining $3,000.00 to cover the outstanding amount. Also he has never violated a visa agreement. When he goes to the embassy for a visa interview, it will be obvious that his TOEFL scores reflect his English language ability, and so on. This is most likely the case with you.

Also since I do not know always recognize forum members by their nicks. I assume that you are on our mailing and notification list because every year we have a free pre-departure orientation for students that have been accepted to US colleges and universities. This is provided by our staff and consular officers. It will give you a chance to learn about the visa process before the interview.

Hope this helps and try not to worry yourself to death. It sounds like you are a committed and solid student!

Elz

[Libela_Bg]

Dear Mrs. Elizabeth,

Thank you very much on this encouraging e-mail! I will send my letter of acceptance on IAC e-mail. I believe that I am on IAC's mailing list, as I went on one of your preparation courses. So, I will wait for notification about seminar you have mentioned!

Thank you once again.

My best regards,

Marina