An Indian headed to The University of Texas at Austin to pursue their MBA shared one mistake that likely led to their visa being rejected. The student had their appointment at the Delhi consulate and shared their experience on a Reddit post.
Taking to the subreddit on visa scheduling, the MBA aspirant wrote “I believe they have made the rules stricter after the release of the new duration of stay rule on 16th July.” The applicant reportedly had traveled to the US before and had no loan. Further, they had earned a scholarship from UT Austin.
The applicant shared some of the questions they faced during the visa interview process.
What happened to the applicant at the visa interview?
The applicant was asked where they did their undergraduate studies and what they studied. “I studied Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Finance,” was the reply, as per the Reddit post.
Also Read | NRI techie reveals shocking ‘wake-up call’ about Indian work culture
The applicant was then asked how they ended up going into their own business after the academic background in mechanical engineering. The individual replied that it was because they were a founding member of a SaaS startup. They were also asked about the company turnover, the Reddit post detailed.
The question that likely led to the visa rejection
{{/usCountry}}The applicant was then asked how they ended up going into their own business after the academic background in mechanical engineering. The individual replied that it was because they were a founding member of a SaaS startup. They were also asked about the company turnover, the Reddit post detailed.
The question that likely led to the visa rejection
{{/usCountry}}The applicant then shared the question that likely led to the visa rejection. They were asked if they filled the DS-160 on their own. When they answered in the affirmative, the MBA aspirant was asked if they also booked the appointment by themselves.
“Oh, I tried to book it on my own but I did have some help in doing this,” the applicant had answered at which time they were asked to pass on their documents for ‘administrative processing’, as per the Reddit post.
“I sat in the waiting area for ~1.5-2 hours until almost all other appointments were done. A different lady called me at her counter,” the MBA aspirant shared.
“She asked about the appointment booking. I was honest about the agent situation. She explained that I was not in any trouble and that she appreciated my honesty and this wouldn’t be held against me. Gave a slip with an email ID and asked to send all the agent details and correspondence to the mail id. Asked me to sit back down and wait for my VO to call me back up,” they added.
The applicant was called to the counter again and asked questions about the D-160 and their agent helping out with the application process. Then, their visa was rejected under section 214(b), the Reddit post shared.
The applicant detailed where the interview possibly went wrong. “My hunch is the application was flagged earlier itself, they had some tool which was helping them to find these applications. Quite a few other people were also going through this…”. They further advised “For anyone who has appointments coming up, I’d suggest speaking to your agent if you have one to understand the appointment booking process beforehand and be prepared for similar questions. *Dont lie* to the VO, a girl after me kept telling the lady officer that she did it on her own even after the lady said she knew otherwise, she’s banned from reapplying from what I could tell.”
HT.com could not independently verify the authenticity of this post.
However, several people reacted to the applicant's experience and shared some insights.
Agent intervention blamed for visa rejection
One person commented “I suspect that your agent performed some illegal actions (like using bot in the usvisascheduling portal) to book the slots for you, which they caught.”
Another added “You had the perfect profile and the university. It was the agent booking you got rejected for.” Meanwhile, another individual questioned whether the possibility of the applicant's intent of staying back might have been a red flag.
They wrote “aside from the agent booking the slot, could it also be immigrant intent? op mentions that he’s a founder, may switch to o-1 later?”.