Getting a Student Visa for the US April 1, 2014

Get accepted at a recognized educational institution

This is the first step.  Once you’ve decided where you want to study, you need to apply to your school of choice and get accepted.  We hope you’re planning to study English at PC TECH and if so, you can go here to get started!

Once you’re accepted, you get enrolled in what is called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) and pay the SEVIS fee.  Then, the institution (hopefully PC TECH!!!) will send you an I-20 form, which you will need for the next steps in the process.

Apply for the visa

After you’re accepted at the school of your choice, you have to actually apply for the visa by filling out the Online Nonimmigrant Visa Application aka DS-160.  Note that you have to upload a photo of yourself as part of this application.

Schedule and prepare for an interview

The potentially most stressful part of this process is scheduling and preparing to the interview at a US Embassy or Consulate.  First thing to note is that while you can schedule an interview at any embassy or consulate, it’s always best to do so in your country of permanent residence as it may be difficult to qualify for a visa otherwise.  You can locate the nearest embassy or consulate here.  Wait times vary so be sure to apply as early as possible.  You can get an estimate on the wait time in your city here.

Once scheduled, you need to do the following to prepare for the interview:

• Pay the application fee
• Gather required documentation (passport, DS-160 form, fee payment receipt, Form I-20, other documentation as specified by the embassy where you’re are interviewing)

Attend visa interview

On the date of your interview, go to the embassy and meet with the consular officer.  The interview with a consular officer will determine if you are eligible for a visa.  If your visa is approved, you will be notified when it will be ready for issue and when you can pick it up or else have it delivered by courier.

Additional thoughts

Obviously, this is just an overview of the process and there’s a lot involved, mainly in the area of deciding on which school to study at.  But that said, once you’ve figured out what and where you want to study, the visa process itself is relatively straightforward, if often time-consuming.

For more specific details on the application process, visit the US State Department site.  It gives in depth explanations of each step in the process as well as more details on other types of visas and documentation.

Lastly, we hope you will consider PC TECH as your school of choice for English or vocational study.  We work with lots of students on getting visas and offer a specific set of steps to follow in coming to study in the States, from initial application to getting on the plane that we hope you will find helpful.  Hope to see you in class soon!