An Indian student shares his F-1 student visa rejection experience.
An Indian student shared his experience of being denied an F-1 visa at a Delhi consulate, at a time when visa officers have become very strict in their approvals. The student, a 2025 graduate, wants to pursue a master’s degree in computer science at Columbia University.
The interview lasted only 2-3 minutes and was denied under 214(b) meaning that the applicant did not sufficiently demonstrate to the consular officer that he or she qualifies for the non-immigrant visa category for which he or she is applying.The student revealed the interview questions and answers as well as red flags that may have led to rejection.Q: Why Columbia University?Answer: Columbia University has an updated curriculum and a range of courses in different fields.Q: Who takes care of you?The applicant disclosed a student loan from an Indian bank worth Rs 1.25 crore with support from parents.Q: What is your parents’ income?Answer: 12LPA.The applicant was also asked about returning to India after completing the course. The response was “yes”, but the request was rejected.When the student shared his experience on Reddit, social media users pointed out that the interview answers were often unimpressive and that the financial burden was a red flag.
Redditors pointed out that the student loan of Rs 1.24 crore was a huge burden and the parents’ income as claimed was less than that. Others pointed out that the answer about Colombia was also rehearsed and unimpressive.While the applicant sought suggestions to retry the visa, citing additional financial resources, including parents’ savings of Rs 98 lakh and Rajasthan government grant of Rs 62 lakh which were yet to be granted, social media users said the visa officer had, in fact, saved the student’s life. The student explained that without the scholarship this would not have been possible at all, but this was not mentioned in the form as the scholarship had not been announced yet.“Your visa has been rejected because your parents’ annual income of 12 LPA is completely insufficient to support a huge loan of Rs 1.25 crore, indicating to the officer that you do not have any financial cushion and will have to work illegally in the US to survive.
To fix this, you must take out a scholarship worth INR 62 lakh and request an updated I-20 from Colombia to reflect the new lower cost, since a new I-20 is completely mandatory whenever your financing structure changes.
In addition to your parents’ net worth of INR 98 lakh, this scholarship reduces the remaining loan amount to a realistic level that your family can actually support, allowing you to pass your next interview with ease by demonstrating strong financial stability. “There was no chance of getting approved,” one wrote.Another said the visa officer saw through the lie that the applicant would return to India with a loan amount exceeding the parents’ net worth.
