An Indian student recently shared his experience of F-1 visa rejection in a two-minute interview despite there being no apparent flaws in the case. The student had applied for a visa to study MS in Computer Science at the University of Maryland and the program starts on August 31. The student, sponsored by the father, obtained an education loan of Rs 50 lakh – without any problems.During the interview, the applicant was asked regular questions about whether he faced any threats in India that could prevent him from returning to India and also about his choice of university. The student answered, “I chose UMD because it closely matches my research interests in computer vision. The program offers specialized electives in AI and computer vision, and its research labs match the areas I want to explore during my master’s.”Another important detail was that the applicant was working as a software engineer for a company headquartered in San Francisco, away from India. “My employment ends on July 17th, before I start my master’s degree. I have an employer letter stating that they have no intention of employing me during or after my studies,” the applicant wrote on Reddit, trying to understand the reason for the denial.
‘Remote work is a big danger’
Redditors immediately spotted the red flags, however, and the applicant’s company issued a letter saying they did not intend to hire the student in the future. “Your remote work arrangement with a US employer is a red flag to the Consulate. It shows two things: one, that you have contacts in the US who can provide you with employment with the right skills; and two, that you are still working for them and have recently started. As others have said here, what if you continue to work for them while still receiving your salary in an Indian account? This is a way to bypass the $100k fee by your US company. There is a way also. The consular officer simply requires reasonable belief, one way or the other. To be honest, I don’t see your profile being approved. If I were you, I’d just get a master’s degree in India and keep my job,” one Redditor suggested.“I think it’s a question of trust. Are they confident that your current employer won’t become your future employer – and that’s if you’re in the USA. They’ll want to err on the side of caution and probably not take any chances. Hence the denial,” said another.“Your remote employment for a San Francisco tech company was a huge red flag that triggered an immediate assumption of immigrant intent on your DS-160 before you even spoke. To a visa officer, a software engineer with active, direct relationships with a US employer has an incredibly high potential and incentive to seamlessly transition to the domestic job market. Even with your employer letter, the system assumes you can easily continue working remotely or Can use that network to bypass standard employment visa channels. Furthermore, your highly portable expertise in computer vision and AI coupled with a generic, textbook answer about UMD did nothing to establish a mandatory return to India. For your next attempt, you’ll need to rewrite your DS-160 to emphasize local career anchors and shift your interview description to articulate the exact, high-value corporate opportunities that are waiting for you back home,” a third Redditor suggested.