NEW YORK: First Time Applicants For F-1 US Student Visa Preferred, Others Apply Later

NEW YORK: Those who have been refused a F-1 Student Visa before will not be able to get a slot when the appointment applications open this summer, Minister Counsellor for Consular Affairs at the US embassy, Donald L Heflin said recently.

During the 45 minute live chat on the web page of the US consulate general in Delhi, Mr Heflin said the summer season for student visa will open in June and first half of July.

“We want the summer season to be for fresh applicants. People who have never applied before, students who have just finished high school and want to go for graduation studies or students who have just graduated and want to go for Masters. This summer when we open for appointments, if you have been refused before, you will not get a slot,” Mr Heflin said.

“Later in the summer from August 15 to September 1, around 15,000 appointments will be available for people who have either been refused this summer or last year. I know a lot of people are freaking out about it but we have been shut down for long in view of the pandemic. We didn’t have bunch of people who have been refused before applying again, we have got a lot of them now … hence the decision,” he said.

Mr Heflin said that eight lakh US visas were likely to be issued in 12 months in India in what he hoped to be a recovery year for visa operations since the disruptions caused by COVID-19.