The Indian student who works for Tesla says he was denied a student visa twice, but he didn’t give up.
Indian student Mayank Vadalia, who works at Tesla, said that F1 visa rejection is not a big problem, and his student visa was rejected twice but he did not give up. While several Formula 1 refusals have emerged this year due to the Donald Trump administration’s close scrutiny of who can enter the country, Vadalia’s first US visa refusal was in 2015 when he was 18 years old.Speaking to American Bazaar, the Tesla engineer at the time said he was a recent graduate of the school and wanted to pursue graduate studies in the US. At the first visa interview, he was asked three questions: his name, age, and sponsor. His visa was immediately rejected.“My first attempt to gain admission to an American university was in 2015. I was 18 years old, fresh out of school, and all I wanted was to study in the United States.
I applied for an F-1 visa for my bachelor’s degree, and I believed in it so much that I just applied to a university – Montana State University. “My visa was rejected immediately after asking only three questions – my name, age and who will pay my fees,” he said. He reapplied to the same school the following year and was denied his visa a second time.At that time, he shifted his focus. Instead of pursuing the university he hoped would build him up, he began building his profile.
He was accepted into Gujarat Technological University. After his graduation, when he applied for a master’s program in the United States, it was the third time he encountered a visa officer. He said he was more confident this time, and he was third time lucky.“After being rejected twice, I stopped trying to woo the officer at that moment and started building a profile that spoke for itself,” he said. “I finished my degree, got clear on what I wanted to study and clearly stated my intention to apply.”Explaining how his outlook had changed in 4-5 years, he said: “In my third interview, I already had an offer from Australia, so I walked in calmly rather than despairing. I wasn’t really afraid of another ‘no’ and it showed.”“I arrived in the US in 2020 to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at Cleveland State University. From there I transitioned to working as an application support engineer at a technology company. This gave me a front-row seat to how technology works in the real world.”Vadalia still holds an F-1 visa with a work permit through 2028 through systematic practical training. He is also doing his PhD in Information Technology. “If I qualify, my company will sponsor me for a new visa like H-1B or O-1,” he said, speaking about future plans. Once again, he is focused on building himself up.
