Financial documents required for procuring student visa

In order to obtain a student visa, financial documents are most important. Failure to submit the necessary documents will affect your chances of getting a student visa. In this article, we will discuss about the list of specific financial documents required for procuring a student's visa and why those documents are required.

While issuing a student visa, all the foreign embassies have one common objective. This is to understand if a student can afford the cost of the education, which would include the tuition fee, cost of living, travel expenses, etc. Or would there be a possibility of the student becoming a potential immigrant? In other words, the immigration officials would want to know if the student will stay back in their country to seek employment after the completion of his/her course or will they return back to their home country? If the officials feel there is a chance that the student would stay back in their country, that student's visa is immediately rejected. The financial documents of the applicant are required so that the immigration officials can discern the student's financial status and understand whether the student's family can afford an expensive education and if they will return back to their home country after its completion. Generally, investments, assets and salary statements are indicators proving the financial capacity of student's family. In addition, the visa officer will also be interested in understanding the occupation of the sponsor/family.

Given below is a list of the most important financial documents that will help the student in the visa application process: 

1. Savings Bank Account Statement - required for the past 12 to 24 months.

2. Bank Fixed Deposits Certificates

3. Income Tax Documents for the past two financial years

4. If the sponsor owns a company/firm: Balance Sheets, Profit & Loss Accounts and Income Tax Documents for last two financial years

5. If a loan is used as the method of sponsorship; then a loan sanction letter

Other necessary documents include evidences such as:

1. Proof of investment in equity/shares, bonds and mutual funds

2. Insurance policies or premium receipts

3. Provident funds and post office savings proof

4. Certificates of investments in NSC & KVP.

The financial documents required for obtaining a visa will be different and will be specified in the immigration rules of the respective country. All applicants must go through the documents carefully when preparing to apply for a student visa.

For instance, countries such as United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, among others will require photocopies of most of the documents as per their guidelines, where as for the US Student Visa, it is safer to carry the originals of the relevant documents, including income tax documents and bank statements when appearing for the personal interview.

What are the documents required to obtain student visa?

If a person decides to go to a foreign country to visit, work or study, he/she would need a visa issued by a competent authority of the foreign country. The rules to obtain a student visa maybe different for each country, but most of them require a set of standard documents to start the proceedings to obtain a visa. 

A passport, with at least six months of validity from the date of travel, is a mandatory document. To avoid any hassles and disappointments, the student should complete the formalities of either obtaining a new passport or renewing the old one if it is about to expire. 

The following academic documents should be kept ready before applying for a visa.  

·        Mark sheets: These are the bedrock of a student's visa process. The mark sheets and other academic documents should be obtained from the respective college / university. For obtaining admission to Bachelor's programme, mark sheets and passing certificates from the 9th grade onwards are required. For an MS/MBA/Ph. D programmes, all mark sheets, transcripts and degree certificates or a provisional passing certificate from the first year of the Bachelor's degree onwards is required. If a student has appeared recently for the final examination, and if the results have not been declared yet, then the student must possess the college ID card, examination fee receipt and examination hall ticket. This is especially important for obtaining a US Visa. 

·        Test Scores reports: GRE/GMAT/SAT/TOEFL/IELTS scores and any other official test score results. 

·        The original admission letter from the university. I20 for US visa applicants. 

·        The form I20, also called the Certificate of Eligibility for Non-immigrant (F-1) Student Status-For Academic and Language Students is a document issued by SEVP-certified schools (colleges, universities, and vocational schools) that provides supporting information on a student's visa status. This would have a student-tracking number and the code of the school to which the student has applied. SEVIS Receipt for US visa applicants. The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) is a program within the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement which monitors students and exchange visitors in the United States. A receipt for the fee paid for this program is mandatory as proof before being granted a visa or admission. 

·        Admission and rejection letters of the Universities to which the student had applied. 

·        Financial aid or scholarship letters, if any. 

·        If the student is employed, then all documents related to the pertinent employment are required. 

Each student has to do a thorough research to be aware of the documents needed at the time of applying for a visa. These documents should be kept ready before beginning the process, to avoid any hassles, delays and disappointments. The author, Binita Parekh, leads a team of dedicated and highly qualified counselors and staff at Beyond Boundaries Education Consulting Services which offers advice and guidance to students for successful applications to prestigious academic institutions, enabling them to achieve and bring their dreams to fruition.

Common US Student Visa questions candidates should be prepared to face

For the most, if not all applicants for non-immigrant visas are generally viewed as intending immigrants, until they can really convince the immigration officer that they are not. For the US Student Visa (F1 visa), no matter how careful students could be in knowing certain visa processing procedures, they should definitely prepare for some of the frequently asked questions. With 15 years of research and experience, experts at Beyond Boundaries have prepared this list of questions for students who face visa process every year.

It is believed that most students are definitely asked either or all of the following questions:

1. Why do you want to study in the US?

2. Why do you want to pursue an MS/MBA/PhD program?

3. Why have you chosen XYZ university?

4. What is your GRE and TOEFL score?

5. What is your academic background?

6. Who will sponsor your education?

7. What is your sponsor's occupation?

8. What financial arrangement has been made to pay for your education?

9. What are your plans after completing this degree?

The above 9 questions are almost sure shot, however, students can be asked about the climatic conditions, trivia about the university such as the university's famous sport, lucky mascot, etc to test their knowledge about the university that they intend to study at, among other questions.

Other miscellaneous questions students should be ready to face are:

How many universities did you apply to?

How many admits and rejects?

How did you short-list the universities?

What research area are you interested in?

Do you know anyone in the USA?

Have you ever traveled abroad?

What is the cost of education per year?

Which companies can you work with after finishing your education?

Have you opted for any educational loan?

For students who graduated last year and have not worked: What were you doing after completing your education?

For students with work experience: What are you doing after completing your education? Where are you working? How did you get this job? What is your role? Does your organisation know you are going to study abroad? Why do you want to leave such a lucrative job and study?

For students who have changed their major/subject area: Why have you changed your subject area? How did you get interested in the new subject area?

This year the F1 student visas are relatively easy to obtain. However, Binita Parekh from Beyond Boundaries Education Consulting recommends to be well prepared for the interview to each and every candidate.

Read at: http://www.careerindia.com/value-read/visa-questions-what-should-students-prepare-for-010866.html