What do you understand by a Student Visa?

US is known for welcoming most of the foreign students to study in their universities or colleges, as it has the top colleges of the world and students are keen to pursue their higher studies in those colleges.

In order to do so, these is a set procedure which every student has to follow. One can only pursue the academics if he has the student visa and in order to get a visa, the applicant is required to be accepted and approved by the college or university in which he has applied for the course. After being accepted by the college, the student will get all the necessary approval documents which are required to submit while applying for a student visa. Students can apply for a visa within 120 days from the start date of I-20 and can travel within 30 days of time period from the start date mentioned on I-20 form.

Most common visas are

• F-1 Visa, it is the most common one used by all the students who are willing to attend a full time course in US college or university.
• M-1 visa, it is required when you are planning to attend a non academic or going for a vocational study or for training purpose in a US institute.

The procedure for applying for a student visa is quite simple yet complicated, as it has strict criteria, and those who qualifies in it have greater chances of getting a student visa without any delay or issues.

1. Determine your visa type as each visa type requires its own qualifications and used for specific purposes. Choose the one which is applicable to your situation.
2. After that complete the DS-160 form. Read the guidelines first which will help you in filling the form correctly. All the entries should be correct and accurate, once you submit it, you can't edit your application.
3. After doing the above two things, it's time to pay the visa fee.
4. After this, you can schedule your visa appointment, which is done online. Schedule your interview appointment at the embassy. Reach the venue on the given date along with all the necessary documents.
5. The decision about your visa will be notified on the same date and the remaining procedure will take one week of time and you will get your passport with the visa stamp on it delivered to your address.

After getting the approval and a week's time, you can start packing your bags for the travel and you can make all the necessary arrangements of staying there. One thing to remember that the student visa will allow staying in US for 60 more days than the expiry date mentioned on the I-20 form which will be after competing your course tenure. After which you have to come back to your home country unless you have applied for a work visa and it get approved. Then only you can stay in US and work.

This article is submitted by Sandeep Malik.