F-1 student visa timeline

[Tarvos 0]

Ah, I expected the definition of the term to be that. Financially speaking, I am very self-sufficient and have shown I could fund my entire education in the US on my own without having to seek any assistance or desire to find a job there. But yes, I've heard of people who outright vanished after stepping off the plane, and it sickens me to death that my case can actually be grouped with theirs without checking thoroughly my purpose for traveling.

Also, I meant if -they- asked me for a second interview. I know right now that requesting one won't improve my chances, but last time I went there, the CO told me "for starters, your Visa should come out in two weeks" and it's actually been almost four months now with no news.

[Boiler 45,525]

It is all down to the broken Immigration system, once you are in it is is very unlikely that you would be caught if you abused your status.

[Bsze 50]

Again, I doubt that they consider your situation to be a case of visa fraud, otherwise they would have denied you already. You are well-educated, speak English very well and you are seeking postgraduate education in a tough field of study. I strongly believe this is a case of AP.

Edited November 8, 2011 by Bsze

[Tarvos 0]

Thanks... the thing is, I truly have no intention of trying to abuse an entry Visa should I obtain one. I've been meaning to gather information about this only to know what exactly is going on with respect to my own country, and from what I've heard, there ARE those who are getting their Visas all fine and dandy with little to no trouble, in the manner you might have obtained yours.

What irks me is that at this point I doubt they'd reply to any of my inquiries anymore. And we at Egypt aren't exactly on best of terms with each other as fellow citizens of this nation to tell each other how the Visas fair with us, lol.

[Bsze 50]

Getting information from US embassies is like pulling teeth sometimes. When I tried to get information from the Kuala Lumpur embassy regarding my fiance visa, I was turned away and told to wait. My US citizen husband got better results by calling them and angrily threatened to complain to their supervisors.

You could try the Egypt thread on this forum and see if others have any stories or experiences to share.

[Tarvos 0]

Oooh, thanks, will do. Any straight links I can have? I haven't really found any Egyptian STUDENT Visa threads around here...

As far as phone calls go, I'm almost always asked to email them instead, which obviously never really works. Did they give him the information he needed when he did that? I might have to call them up again to try it.

[Bsze 50]

Hmm... I guess there isn't a dedicated thread to Egypt but there's a regional forum and it could be a spot to start. There aren't a lot of members on here who've gone down the student visa route, but it's definitely worth a shot. Here's the link.

Also, certain embassies only accept phone calls on certain days of the week and some embassies not at all. (It was Monday for our embassy). Bear in mind that my husband is a US citizen and that holds more clout than a foreigner hoping to obtain a visa from the United States.

[Tarvos 0]

Very true, I forgot about that.

Well, I'm hoping it wouldn't hurt to try. Thanks for your help, I'm really glad you stopped by. It's given me some hope at least that not all is lost.

[Bsze 50]

I'm glad I've been able to give you some measure of hope - however small it is.

Also, have you check your status online here? I did a quick search on this forum and it seems that the Cairo embassy tells EVERYONE to expect 2 weeks for the AP. This thread could help too.

[Tarvos 0]

Aha! I knew that 2 weeks thing was a broken tape being played for everyone.

I've been checking my NIV Visa Case status, it only tells me to email them since more than 90 days have passed (you could imagine how surprised I was when the status message changed, only to realize it's ANOTHER useless status message).

Thanks for the thread! I'll check it out now.

[Boiler 45,525]

I am also sure this is an AP issue, just answering the question about fraud.

[Tarvos 0]

Yeah, that much we know now I guess.

Are there any published statistics regarding AP times in the Middle East?

[MalaysianGirl 26]

Thanks... I really need to know more about how much it CAN take for someone...

If that was sarcasm, I won't get offended, I'd just whistle

Seriously though, I didn't mean to discourage you with my last post. Sorry if it seemed that way. I only commented that because I remember one of my guy friends (he's Malaysian and a Malay) had a terribly tough time with AP BUT he got approved, he went to Michigan, he studied for four to five years, and he returned to Malaysia.

I hope it's the same case for you, too, that you will get approved and get to study in the US.

All the best.

[Tarvos 0]

Oh, no. I was hardly being sarcastic there; I said thanks because I appreciated you contributing more info to the matter. I can hardly joke about something this frustrating.

The problem right now is that I'm running out of time for my current semester, and will have to book a new semester to attend. I only have one month before this semester is over.

Edited November 9, 2011 by Tarvos

[MalaysianGirl 26]

Oh, no. I was hardly being sarcastic there; I said thanks because I appreciated you contributing more info to the matter. I can hardly joke about something this frustrating.

The problem right now is that I'm running out of time for my current semester, and will have to book a new semester to attend. I only have one month before this semester is over.

Thanks for clarifying. I'm sorry that this is stressful for you. When did they put you in AP? Sorry if I missed that info in your earlier posts.