Mayank Wadalia, an Indian student who works at Tesla, said that getting an F1 visa rejected is not a big deal and that his student visa was rejected twice but he did not give up. While there have been several cases of F1 rejections this year due to the Donald Trump administration’s strict scrutiny of those entering the country, Vadalia’s first US visa rejection was in 2015 when he was 18.Speaking to American Bazaar, the Tesla engineer said that at that time he was just out of school and wanted to pursue higher studies in America. At his first visa interview, he was asked only three questions: his name, age and sponsor. His visa was immediately rejected.“My first attempt to get into an American university was in 2015. I was 18 years old, just out of school, and I just wanted to study in America.” I applied for an F-1 visa to pursue my graduate studies, and I was so confident in it that I applied to just one university – Montana State University. My visa was immediately rejected after asking just three questions – my name, age and who would pay my fees,” he said. He applied again to the same school the next year and his visa was rejected a second time.At that time he turned his focus elsewhere. Instead of going to the university he hoped would give him an edge, he started building his profile. He got admission in Gujarat Technological University. After his graduation, when he applied for a master’s program in the US, it was the third time he encountered a visa officer. He said, this time he was much more confident and he was third time lucky.He said, “After I got rejected twice, I stopped trying to win over the officer at that moment and started building a profile that spoke for itself. I completed my degree, got clarity on what I wanted to study and clearly stated my intentions in the application.”“By my third interview, I already had an offer from Australia, so I calmed down rather than getting frustrated. I wasn’t really afraid of another ‘no’ and it showed,” he said, explaining how his perspective changed over 4-5 years.“I came to the US in 2020 to pursue a master’s in computer science at Cleveland State University. From there, I moved to work as an application support engineer at a tech company. This gave me a front-row seat to how technology works in the real world.”Wadalia is still on an F-1 visa with work authorization until 2028 through curricular practical training. He is also pursuing PhD in Information Technology. Speaking about future plans, he said, “If I am eligible, my company will sponsor me for a new visa like H-1B or O-1.” Again, he is focusing on building himself up.