US Student Visa: What is the Application Process to Obtain One?

The two visas that allow students entry into America are the F-1 and the M-1 visas. Any foreign national wanting to study in the US will first need to apply and be issued one of these two visas in order to enter the country and remain there for the remainder of their course/education.

For any student looking to procure an F-1, M-1 visa there are three main aspects:

1. Getting admission to an American school/university
2. Completing an application for an F-1 or M-1 visa, an immigration lawyer can help you with this
3. Passing your face to face visa interview

This is an endeavor that you want to get right the first time. If you mess up putting a puzzle together you only lost 10 minutes or so, if you mess up putting your car’s battery back into place you fix that pretty quickly, if you mess up when you are trying to warm up a slice of pumpkin pie you can correct that a mistake in a variety of ways, this is not just the case when it comes to immigration. If you make a mistake trying to enter the country it can set you back months and if the error is grievous enough, you may have lost your chance at accomplishing this at all.

To even entertain this process, you need legal help. You can find the lawyer that you need right here: https://usattorneys.com/. It is not just not logical to attempt this goal without someone who has not studied this subject and reads up on the latest information all the time.

Getting admitted into an American based education institution

To begin with, before you can even get the ball rolling on your F-1/M-1 visa, you will need to be accepted by a government recognized American educational institution. Without a letter of acceptance (sometimes known as a provisional admission) and an I-20 form filled out by the school, you cannot complete your visa application since these two documents will need to go along with the visa application.

For aspiring students, immigration attorneys strongly recommend that you start contacting and shortlisting American schools at least an entire year before you plan to actually commence your course as the process takes time. If you are applying to schools where getting in is going to be difficult (like Harvard or Stanford) then you really need to apply well in advance.

Make sure that you send out at least ten or more applications to different schools all across the United States. Some schools reply almost right away while others may take as long as a couple of months to decide and actually respond. In most cases, a letter of acceptance or declination is usually sent in the months of April and June.

There are many things in life you have control over, the immigration process you really do not. It is very complication and the opportunities to make a grave mistake are numerous. Contact an immigration lawyer using this site http://immigration.usattorneys.com/ and augment your chances of success. 

Where to submit your F-1/M-1 visa application

Most foreign nationals looking to apply to schools for educational purposes in the US are probably living outside the country. Therefore, the point of contact for them is the nearest United States Consulate. The procedure varies depending on the country you live in. In some countries the process has been streamlined where you can approach the US Consulate with all of your documents one day and the next day you can pretty much go collect your visa.

However, as per immigration lawyers, in most countries the process may take anywhere between 2-3 months. Even if you manage to secure a walk in appointment, the processing time is lengthy. If you are already in America on the merit of some other visa like a tourist visa, then you can still go ahead and apply for a student visa by requesting for a change of immigration status.

No time for guessing games

Even in this case, you first need to be accepted by a government recognized American educational institution. If you contemplate studying in the US or need to learn more about the types of student visas, don’t hesitate to speak with an immigration lawyer right away.