Question regarding F1 interview

[frshsito 0]

I am a US citizen, and my girlfriend is a citizen of Taiwan. She would like to come to the states and study English here.

We have only been dating for a year, and would prefer not to get married any time soon.

We are not yet sure as to our future plans, but at this point in time we are both interested in moving to Taiwan after both of our studies are completed(I am a graduate student).

After reading some experiences of others, it seems as if having a significant other who is a USC may make the F1 process difficult.

Will she get automatically denied? Is there anything we can do to improve our chances?

Any advice or comments is appreciated.

[canadian_wife 1,829]

No, it will not be automatically denied. She does need to disclose it however, and to improve her chances she needs to bring ties to Taiwan that shows she MUST return. When I did my F-1 I was surprised at what they asked for.

Good luck

[rika60607 215]

If she was your fiancee and you two had plans for living together, by all means she'd have to disclose it.

A girlfriend? I don't think so. People can have many boyfriends/girlfriends, and very few of them become significant others

[canadian_wife 1,829]

However, if directly asked if a boyfriend or 'loved one' is in the US - then the answer is certainly yes!

[rika60607 215]

Agreed

However, if directly asked if a boyfriend or 'loved one' is in the US - then the answer is certainly yes!

[Little_My 464]

When I wen't for my F1 interview, me and my boyfriend (USC, now my husband) had been together for two years. He was my sponsor to help me meet the financial requirements, because since we were going to be living together, that took off half of the estimated cost of living expenses I needed to meet. I had him sign the affidavit of support, and his name was all over my application so I couldn't really even try to "hide him".

The interviewer asked me how long we had been together and if we were engaged (we were not at that time), and what our plans were after my graduation. I answered honestly, and said that my programme would be for two years and we had not started plannign that far ahead yet, and that my primary reason for coming to the US was to get a Master's degree. My interviewer happened to be super nice, she was asking where we met and being really chatty and sweet, and I had no problems whatsoever getting the F1 even with an American boyfriend. Then again, I also know Finland is an easy country to be coming from in terms of getting a non-immigrant visa, people tend to easily believe that I would not want to leave a country with free education and health care and move to a country where they are.. Well. Not free. I did have plenty of proof of ties to home country to show for as well.

I agree with the previous posters - if your girlfriend is directly asked about you, she should be honest. If they don't ask, then it is up to her whether to bring it up or not. However, if you two will be living together, disclaiming that would help to bring down the estimated costs of her living expenses here in the US and might help on showing enough funds to cover her tuition and living expenses here. That amount can easily run in 40,000+ / year, depending on her tuition and the city she would be living in.

Edited April 27, 2011 by Little_My