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Visa Interview all three attempts experience

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Visa Status: Approved (3rd Attempt)

Consulate: Mumbai
Date & Time: 27th June (11:30 AM)

It lasted for around 10-12 minutes.

Me: Hello Sir, Good Morning! (and passed on the passport & i20)
VO: Good Morning!

VO: Can you please show me your SEVIS Fee Receipt as well?
Me: Sure Sir (passed on the receipt)

VO: (Kept on looking the screeen for 3 minutes as he was trying to understand my case & look at past VISA rejection comments)

VO: How many admits did you got?
Me: Sir, I got total 2 admits out of 6 universities I applied to. I got admit from University of Cincinnati and University of Minnesota.

VO: Do you have documents of them to show me?
Me: Yes Sir, I have theIr admit letters with me. (passed on them to him)

VO: Where are you working currently and for how long? And how much total work exp. do you have?
Me: Sir, I am currently working at Accenture since last 2 years. Prior to it, I used to work at Opera Solutions, there too I worked for close to 2 years. So, in total I have 4 years of work exp.

VO: Why do you wish to pursue Masters now?
Me: Sir, in the past 4 years, I have worked on multiple projects related to Data Analytics, which have developed my interest to pursue this field. Over these years (VO interrupted in between)

VO: Can you name me the client projects?
Me: Sir, client projects are confidential. But yeah I can tell you that they belong from retail and oil & gas industries.

VO: What exactly your role is in these project?
Me: Told some analytics related stuff - driving actionable business insights etc. (don’t remember exactly)

VO: Can you show me your GRE Score?
Me: Sure Sir (passed on the docs)

VO: What does your parents do?
Me: Sir, my father is a businessman. He xyz…. And my mother is (VO interrupted in between)

VO: Can you tell me more about your father's business?
Me: Explained

VO: Do have any document to support it?
Me: Yes Sir, I have my dad's ITR & Income Computation Sheet (Passed on the docs)

VO: Give me 5 minutes, I would be back soon)

(He went on straight and started talking to 2 US ladies and in between gave them my docs. The ladies looked at my docs for sometime and gave them back to VO. Those were toughest 5 minutes, as I didn't know what was happening and what all they were discussing)

VO: (after coming back) How are you funding for your education?
Me: Sir, my parents are sponsoring for my higher studies. We have family saving funds of close to XX Lac rupees, that is around YY thousand US dollars. And, I have taken education loan of (VO interrupted in between)

VO: Is the family fund entirely yours or of your parents?
Me: Explained the beakup of savings.

VO: Have you taken education loan as well?
Me: Yes Sir, I have taken education loan of XX Lac Rupees from HDFC Credila.

VO: Can you tell me the amount in USD (I didn't knew at that moment and my brain had stopped working to divide loan INR amount by 70. Lucikly the USD amount was written there on my loan sanction letter, so I quickly looked at it & told him and he typed it on his computer.

VO: So you have been to US before?
Me: Yes Sir, I have been to US before in September 2016. It was a business trip.

VO: Was it with your current company Accenture?
Me: No Sir, it was sponsored by my previous company Opera Solutions.

VO: (He again looked at his screen for 2 minutes and finally said the Golden Words.) YOUR VISA IS APPROVED
‍Me: Thank you so much sir. You made my day. (VO started smiling and said Good Luck)

Visa Status: Rejected (2nd Attempt)

Consulate: Chennai
Date & Time: 17th June (11:15 AM)

Me: Hello Sir, Good Morning! (and passed on the passport & i20)
VO: Hey, Good Morning!

VO: So, you are going to University of Cincinnati.
Me: Yes ma'am, I am going to University of Cincinnati to pursue my Masters.

VO: So, it's Management Science Course.
Me: No ma'am. The course name is Business Analytics but it is written as Management Science on i20 as per homeland rules, I have checked with my university.

VO: Why do you wish to pursue your Masters now?
Me: Ma'am, I wish to gain in-depth knowledge of data science algorithms and master the latest technology in Data Analytics domain which is not quite possible with the current industrial setup. This degree will help me sharpen my technical skills further in this field and will give me an edge over my peers so that when I come back to India I will easily get a data scientist job.

VO: Who is sponsoring for your studies?
Me: Ma’am, my parents are sponsoring for my higher studies. We have family saving funds of close to XX Lac rupees, which is around YY thousand US dollars. And I have taken education loan of ZZ Lac Rupees. In addition to that, my parents also own immovable assets worth XX Lac Rupees.

VO: What are your plans after graduation?
Me: Ma’am, after completion of my master’s I would join back my current company Accenture in India. I am leaving my current company at very good terms and my manager has assured me to offer a senior role once I am back. Moreover ma’am, Data Analytics field is booming in India. There are abundant of opportunities at other reputed Indian Analytical firm too like MuSigma, AbsolutData, Fractal Analytics etc. So, I may join those companies too but my first preference would be my current company.

VO: (after typing & looking at screen for 2 minutes) Sorry, your VISA cannot be approved at this movement.
Me: Ma'am, any weak point I need to work upon?

VO: Sorry, as per US Laws I cannot disclose that.

(In between she was reading and writing a lot on screen - I believe she was highly influenced by last attempt's VO's Visa Rejection comments)

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Visa Status: Rejected (1st Attempt)

Consulate: Delhi
Date & Time: 23rd May (11:15 AM)

VO: Which university are you planning to pursue Masters at?
Me: Ma'am, I am planning to pursue Masters at the University of Cincinnati.

VO: For which program you applied for?
Me: Ma'am, I applied for Masters in Business Analytics program.

VO: Why are you planning for MS now?
Me: Ma'am, pursuing a master degree was in my plan since my undergraduation but I do wanted to get relevant work experience & also wanted to save some money for my masters. And now I am executing my plans.

VO: Who is sponsoring your studies?
A: My parents are sponsoring my studies with their combined saving funds of close to XX Lac rupees. And I have personal saving funds of around YY Lac rupees. Additionally, I have taken an education loan of ZZ Lac rupees.

VO: What does your parent do?
Me: Ma'am, my father is a businessman, he XYZ and my mother is a private tutor.

VO: Unfortunately, your visa cannot be approved at this moment. We have very strict rules.

Tips and suggestions:

Counter attack. Don't feel like a culprit if you were refused a visa, sometimes it is not your day. We did nothing wrong, remain confident more confident the second/ third time. Maintain eye contact, keep a smiling face and don't make too much hands movement/ you may keep hands on counter's slab in front to avoid it.
If you are unable to hear VO properly, tell her/him that the voice is not clear/loud instead of assuming the que/ partially understanding the que. In my 3rd attempt I had to ask VO thrice untill I was able to hear his voice clearly.
In case you need an early Visa Slot, DO NOT pay money to agents. Every night early visa slots open at 12:18 am, 1:18 am, 2:18 am, 3:18 am so on. I had personally tried it and booked early slot using it.
MOST IMPORTANT for those having their visa rejected twice/ thrice: Most of the people say that consulate does not matter. But as per my personal experiece/ last year seniors' experiene, if you have got your F1 visa rejected 2 or more than 2 times, I strongly recomment to give your next attempt at Mumbai (which has highest visa approval rate)
Visa Refusal Que & Ans in DS - 160 I wrote:
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Question: Have you ever been refused a U.S. Visa, or been refused admission to the United States, or withdrawn your application for admission at the port of entry? Explain.