by Aditya Lakhotia

“Success has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others."

I got my B1/B2 visa with ten year multiple entries. I would like to thank umar sir for sharing such valuable information and creating awareness, man believe me you are doing fabulous job and may God bless you! This website was huge help for me to start off for elective and visa both.

I always thought people are selfish when it comes to educational research and sharing information but just when I log on to this website I got to know there are people who are interested in helping and sharing info, all thanks to umar bhai and other contributors. Wish that all contributors to this website get to the best possible heights in there life!

Also, I would like to thank medsid, viraat, rahul, swapnil and many others, as there post for visa guidance was damm helpful for making through my interview.

Hereby I have tried to compile my experience with experience of other people too on this website. You may find that the information and question I have mention are already there.

With due respect to all the threads on this website, I have just blended all the possible questions and information by other people with my experience, intention was just to provide as much possible information as I can, and to make it this procedure hassle free. I sincerely apologize for doing so.

Some of the important web links;

For guidance;

· www.umartariq.com

· http://www.umartariq.com/node/70

· www.immihelp.com ( very good website for any kind of visa)

· www.vfs-usa.org

For visa appointment;

by Ayaz Mahmood

I recently appeared for my US Visa interview and thankfully, was granted a five year multiple. Let me begin by first narrating my personal experience, and then discussing issues and preparation for the US Visa. Please note that you should, by all means, read other experiences as well and the comments that follow. Every experience is unique and you would learn more and more about the typical questions that may be asked. I did all my preparation by reading Visa experiences and following comments on this website!

Mid July, I got my acceptance from Thomas Jefferson University for an elective in Neurosurgery. It was then I decided immediately to apply for the US Visa. These days, the online application uses only a single form DS-160 that you can very easily google. Please make sure you fill it accurately and you don't make any mistakes through the application process. Double check your spellings and fill out the personal information as it appears on your passport. When filling out "US Contact information", use details of your electives coordinator. When answering where you'd stay in US, use details of your university. Don't give an impression you'd stay beyond your electives schedule or if you do, then you should have genuine reasons as you may be enquired about it. I only stated "Four weeks" in my application. This doesn't mean you won't get a Visa beyond four weeks (or 3 months as is the case).

When done, print out the confirmation page. Your photo should be taken by a good photographer. I went to Zaidi's in Lahore and he knew exactly how the photo for US or any other Visa should be like. He takes a lot more than others, but it's worth it.

by Ayaz Mahmood

Salam everyone, let me start in the name of Allah who’s the greatest benefactor of all mankind. I am going to write a detailed composition regarding preparation for USMLE Step 1. I am a final year student at King Edward Medical University and I took my exam on June 10th. Final year is the year before internship/ house job in Pakistan. I just got my scores: 99/266

Let me introduce some myths surrounding USMLE Step 1 which are especially prevalent within Pakistan; I am not too sure about India because I heard their students typically appear in their final years.

 Myth number 1:Do not appear for USMLE Step 1 within your graduation

Verdict: Baseless, illogical reasoning

by Junaid Nasir, MD, MBBS

Read carefully and cram it in all the pain related cases the history includes

L  location

I  intensity
Q quality
O onset, duration, progression
R radiation
A aggreviating factor
A alleviating factor
A associated factors
 

by ‘dummy’ Medisid

‘If I have seen further it by standing on the shoulders of giants/predecessors’ – Sir Isaac Newton. I read the book ‘The Inscrutable Americans’ by Anurag Mathur describing a small town buy from India going to USA for his MSc. It was a nice reading but nicer was experiencing it through myself. So here is ‘The Inscrutable Americans 2.0’ From free unlimited cokes in flights to mispronouncing words in my desi accent, I felt with the character of the book. 

Months ago I made my first overseas trip to US for my elective endeavours. Luckily I had got a 10 year multiple entry visa, two months ago. I was very apprehensive about this trip because it being the first and my fear of being profiled due to ethnicity. I discussed with seniors, relatives in US about what to do and what not to do etc etc. I have compiled the advices and my thoughts in this article for those people who are going on their first US trip for electives and so forth. Those who are globetrotters, kindly ignore it on a light note.

by Rahul Yadav

Hi; first of all kudos to Umar Bhai. He is a miracle; a God’s Gift…. I have just given my step 1 on April 30. Didn’t score well though; but the point is I started researching for visa and electives only in mid may; and today 17 jun 2010; I have got my 10 yr multiple entry to the US. 

Few points to remember though:

Visa i/v  is not a job interview. You need to be comfortable and calm. 

Visa counselor know Hindi language better than u expect them to; a counselor was conversing with an old Punjabi lady so well that I didn’t realize she was an American (MATA JI, AAPKHA DHUS SAAL KHA VISA LAG GEYA HAY) ; unless I looked at her !!!!

Visa counselors interview people for a living and trust me; they are pretty GOOD at this one. They can spot fakes and lies immediately. Don’t ever try to act over smart.

Ok; u must be knowing the basic procedure. U can read it on VFS website https://www.vfs-usa.co.in/USIndia/Index.html. That’s the one to be followed. Get HDFC receipt; fill out DS 160 form; Get a photo etc etc.

And remember : SAVE DS-160 form after every page !!!! even if the website asks you to save at every 5 minutes…. The information literally EVAPORATES every 2 min. I had to fill the form 8 times. U can change the data anytime till u take the print out. You should be thorough with every detail u fill in that form. I was asked the details. Memorize the name and number of your US contact. I was asked.

PHOTO: get a good photo; every photographer knows about US visa specifications. I had heard many photos getting rejected; so wat I did was to upload the photo right from the photo studio’s computer and I gave him the money only when the photo got approved.

by Viraat Harsh

If you don’t know much about electives and don’t know where to start from, Chillax…!!!. Trust me, I have been there and know what it feels like. Barely 3 months prior to applying for electives I knew almost nothing about electives/clerkship/observerships. Yes, I used to read posts umartariq.com but was not a frequent visitor, nor did I read through all the posts in a systematic way. Once I had passed the Final year (Final MBBS in India), I realized that its time I should apply for electives. Now the questions were HOW, WHERE, WHEN and WHERE DO I BEGIN FROM.. I started by reading this site and all its posts/comments regarding electives and visa. Luckily those days Mr. Akshay Sharma had ‘bagged’ an elective and had related his experience which helped me a lot, it boosted me up. I too have no relations in the U.S. of A. But also I had no seniors from my medical school that had gone for electives, nor did I have any friends there. On the top, I hadn’t taken Step-1 exam, and then I wanted to go for electives in Surgery and Neurosurgery. And for the info, I had taken a transfer for my internship (last year of grad in India) so Dean’s signature on a paper meant I would have to go all the way to my college (an overnight journey). All this indicated that I had to plan well, otherwise I would screw it up real bad.

26th Dec. To begin with, I took Akshay’s advice- Made myself a diary and noted down all the names of one medical centers/universities (one name on the head of one page) from the site http://services.aamc.org/eec/students/

by Viraat Harsh

From all that I had read, I was really very nervous from the day I took a date for visa interview. The fact that none of my first-hand contacts had applied for an F1 visa, nor did umartariq.com have a detail on F1 visa made me even more nervous. ;)

Ok so here it goes. F1 visa is Student’s Visa. To apply for F1 visa you should have an I-20 (SEVIS: Student and Exchange Visitor Information System form). Once you are accepted by a medical center/university for study there, if they require you to come on F1 visa, they will get you an I-20 issued and they will mail it to you by post. When you apply for F1 visa online, you will require the I-20 number (SEVIS number). Now the issuing of I-20 requires a payment to be made. Although the university that has accepted you, gets the I-20 issued, it’s you who has to pay the fees for it. So once you have the I-20 you can go to www.fmjfee.com and fill an online form (which is called I-901 and then you make the payment by a credit card) and you print out the fee receipt. This fee receipt is to be taken with you for the Visa IV.

To apply for the Visa IV date, the process is similar to the other types of visa other than you needing a I-20 (SEVIS form and SEVIS fee receipt). To remind you the steps are- fill in the DS-160 online, print the DS-160 confirmation, make a visa fee payment at an authorized HDFC bank (in India). Once you have the HDFC fee receipt, you can book you date for the visa IV.

by Sarah Riaz

Got the visa yesterday. It was just a matter of 20 mins for me, out of which about 15 were spent waiting in the queue to get my application back, bound with the passport and going through security checks to walk inside!!! I was the 21st person to go inside for finger printing, but the 1st person to get it even before an air hostess who was there on a routine visit and was asked to wait in the next room for them to get back to her. I did not have a formal interview at counters, nothing was checked in my financial documents, only the acceptances.

Here's the whole story: I was told to go to room 2 for my finger printing, as i entered it i took it in at first glance and saw a very, very bored lookin middle aged man standing, yawning widely behind a bullet proof screen with only a sliding window for documents in it. I nodded slightly at him in professional acknowledgement while i entered and then walked to the side of the room to a chair a chair, waiting for my turn and watching the people before me. He didnt talk or greet any one other than the air hostess who he was acquainted with already and his helper guy who was helping people with the finger prints outside the window. When I got to the window he gave the slightest hint of a smile, switched his intercom on and said,

"Hello, and how are you today??"

Me: (surprised) "Oh im very well!!! Thankyou!! how are you?!!!"

him: "good, good, Im good too."

Then checked my application both on paper and in his computer, while I was being finger printed. Then switched his intercom again and asked,

"Are you a student now??"