Apply for a visa in the UK

Apply for a visa in the UK

To study in the USA as a foreigner, you need a so-called F-1 visa. This is a non-immigrant visa. This means that it is a temporary residence permit. Usually the F-1 visa of a prospective student is issued for 5 years.

Important
The F-1 visa only allows entry into the USA in conjunction with a valid I-20 form. This form will be issued by your college after you have been officially admitted there.

Important:
With an F-1 visa, you may enter the United States no earlier than 30 days before the Program Start date on the I-20. Plan your travel accordingly.

Step 1: Check Form I-20

The information on your Form I-20 must match the information on your passport and application forms. Your name and date of birth are especially important. So check the entire document and let your college know immediately if anything is wrong.
Here you can see what an I-20 looks like and where to find the important data for the visa application.

Step 2: Have your passport photo ready

When filling out the application forms, you will be asked to upload a passport photo. The American authorities have precise ideas about what the photo should look like. The following links will take you to the photo requirements of the immigration authorities.

Step 3: Fill out application form DS-160

You can fill out the DS-160 application form online. You can access the form via this link. Filling out the form is time-consuming. Allow at least 75-90 minutes.
  1. Select consulate England, London or Belfast and enter displayed code
  2. Click on Start an Application
  3. Important: Write down your Application ID (top right) -> this is important as it will allow you to log into your application, in case you are logged out during the process (it happens occasionally that you will receive a message that your session is timed out)
  4. Select and answer security question
  5. Enter personal data
Tip:
In U.S. Social Security Number and Passport Book Number you can click Does Not Apply.
  1. Enter the address of the university in Address where you will stay in the US. The exact dates of your stay can be found on the I-20
  2. Select F-1 Visa under Travel Information and enter the remaining data
  3. Enter passport data (select REGULAR PASSPORT and click DOES NOT APPLY for Passport Book Number and National ID)
  4. Enter contact person in the USA: use the school official that is shown on your I-20
  5. Enter details of your relatives or friends
  6. When asked for study or work experience:
    1. PRESENT: From the Dropdown menu select NOT EMPLOYED. In the box below, write a short explanation of your current status, for example:
      1. Student still in school finishing A-Levels/BTEC this summer (if you are still completing your A-Levels/BTEC this year))
      2. High School Graduate in Gap Year (if you have finished A-Levels/BTEC in the past year)
      3. University student (if you are already studying at a University here and will go to the US as a transfer student)
    2. PREVIOUS: Answer the question "Have you attended any educational institutions at a secondary level or above" with "YES". Then you will be asked to input your secondary schools including their addresses:
      1. Put the school, where you completed you GCSE certificates
      2. Also put the school where you have completed/will be completing your A-Levels
      3. Also put your university, if you are already a student at a university here
      4. As you can see, you might put 1, 2 or 3 instutions here
      5. COURSE OF STUDY is always ACADEMIC
IMPORTANT: The end date for your current school cannot be in the future. Therefore, alway put yesterday's date for end date!
  1. Questions about social media activity: Please add your social media handles for the platforms tha apply to you from the drodown menu
  2. Answer security questions
  3. Enter your SEVIS ID (you will find it at the top of the I-20)
  4. Upload a photo. If necessary, you can reduce or enlarge the photo online, there are some free image editing programs online for this purpose
  5. Sign and submit
  6. Click on Print Confirmation and print out the confirmation page with the barcode
  7. Bring a printout to the interview appointment at the consulate / embassy or send it by post

Step 4: Schedule an interview appointment

When you have completed your DS-160 form it is time to complete the second step in the visa application process. You will need the following documents to complete this step:
  1. Your DS-160 confirmation
  2. The Barcode from the above-mentioned DS-160 confirmation
  3. Your I-20 (which you have received from the school you will study at in the USA)
  4. Your passport
You arrange the date for the consulate visit online via a specially designed booking portal. 

Getting Started
  1. Call up this website, scroll down a bit and click Apply
  2. Select "I have completed the DS-160 form and I need to apply for a visa"
  3. In the New Applicant stage, you will enter personal information, your passport number and your DS-160 number. The DS-160 number is issued on the barcode that you received when you completed this stage. It will be a combination of 10 letters and numbers.
  4. Your visa class is F-1.
  5. Once complete, click create applicant.
There are two ways to complete the visa application process. An in-person appointment or a postal appointment. You do not get to choose which type you get, nor can it be changed once it has been determined. One is no better than the other. The US embassy system decides for you as part of this step in the process. More information on each type of appointment is below.

Summary Page

The next page asks some very simple questions that you should be able to leave and just confirm to move forwards.

You may also see another page with two boxes. You need to be able to answer yes to all statements in the top box only to choose yes as your answer. If you answer no to any of the statements, you need to select none of the above apply. Below are some tips for the statements.
  1. The country in which the applicant is applying refers to the country you’re applying for a visa from. I.e., if are a national or a permanent resident of the UK applying to the UK embassy this would be yes.
  2. If you have ever been to the US, you will have had an ESTA. If you have never been to the US, this would be a no so your overall answer for this section would be a no.
  3. You will know the answers to the final two points.
  4. You are not applying for a J or L visa, ignore these two questions.
  5. It will ask you next to add another applicant, you select no.

Courier Details

You will move on to a Courier Details page. Here you must select a courier service who will deliver your passport. At this point, you need to select the courier depot closest to your home. This is where your passport will be delivered to after your appointment. For now, you must choose the pickup location nearest your home.
As mentioned on the page, later in the process you can choose to pay a small fee to have it delivered directly to your home. Pay close attention for this step to come up as you cannot go back and pay for this once you have gone past it! 
We recommend you pay the fee to have it delivered to your home, unless you live close to the depot you selected, otherwise you will have to travel to the delivery depot to collect your passport.

Payment

Here you need to pay your MRV fee. This is the fee paid to schedule an appointment at the embassy in London or Belfast.

  1. The GBP amount is based on the exchange rate determined by the U.S. Department of State. The visa fee is a non-refundable processing fee for a visa application that is necessary for your visa application to be handled by the Embassy, but this does not guarantee that the application will be granted!
  2. There are three payment methods to choose from when paying the visa fee:
    1. Cash payment through a bank office
    2. Online payment by card . We recommend this method of payment as it is the easiest!
    3. Payment through your internet bank
  3. Any receipt you get must be saved and recorded/printed
Booking Visa Appointment/Postal Appointments

If your page gives you first available appointment dates for the embassies in London or Belfast:
  1. You will need to attend an in-person appointment. You can choose if you go to London or Belfast. Find an appointment time and date that works for you and book it. Bear in mind the embassy will keep your passport for around 10 days after the appointment!
  2. Follow the CHECKLIST guideline for what to take with you and information on what the in-person appointments are like.
  3. If there are only appointments very late in the future, there are things you can do.
  4. Book the earliest appointment available. Log in a couple of times a day to this website (we find first thing in the morning is best) and see if more appointments have been released/cancellations have become available. This is the best way to get yourself an earlier appointment.
  5. There is the option to apply for an expedited appointment. Please be aware that we don’t provide help and advice on applying for one of these and they are very rarely granted. The above method is by far the most successful for getting an earlier appointment.

Inform us, as well as your coach, when you have scheduled your visa interview and confirm to us when you will be going to the embassy, or if you have been awarded a postal appointment.

You will now need to pay the SEVIS fee. Links to do this and information on this mandatory

Step 5: Pay the SEVIS fee

In addition to the application fee, an F-1 visa application is subject to the SEVIS fee. You pay this fee online by credit card. Currently the SEVIS fee is $350 US Dollar.
  1. Call up this website 
  2. Click on the PAY I-901 FEE above
  3. Enter your home address and click on SUBMIT
  4. ou'll find the school code on the I-20 If the school code does not fit into the given fields, please insert 5 numbers into the field after the 214F instead of 4 numbers.
  5. Complete payment by entering your credit card details

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