today, on 1st august 2007, i had my Visa interview in chennai, for step 2 CS. below follows a complete transcript of what happenned....!!
me standing in the queque after the fingerprinting looking at four software guys ahead of me, each one chatting so informally with the VO, as though they were Americans themselves....!! !
a nice incident happened just before this, will elaborate upon it earlier.
i wasn't very tense. it wasn't make or break for me, this visa interview, as i already have an MD in pediatrics, so i wan't all that dependent upon this USMLE
outcome. all the same, i was going to be darned if after 4 back-breaking months studying for step 1 / CK, i was going to be refused a visa....!!
anyway, all those guys i mentioned abt earlier ot their Visa cleared. then i walked upto to the beautiful young girl seated in the visa counter. she was really nice....!! i actually wanted to tell her so, but didn't have the courage later on, after how my interview went.
for straters, she unsettled me from the very beginning of the proceedings...!
she : hello, smiling.
me: ohhh... hi ... hellllo GM...!!
she: your folder please.
me: here it is ( abt the only thing i did right in there...!!)
she: so you finished your MBBS...?
me: i was flabbergasted. i mean, there was nothing in the docs i gave her that suggested this. i had always assumed, the first question would be hi, so why do you want to go the USA.../
but no it wasn't, in my case, she straightaway came to the conclusion i was going for my step 2 CS, most probably from the address of the ECFMG CS center in Houston i had given in the DS-156.
anyway, my next reply was
me: ohhh yesss i completed the MBBS.
she: can i have your MBBS degree.
me: here it is, mam.
she: ok, what about your marksheets....
me: what marksheets...?
she: your MBBS ones. already eyes raised in mock surprise, and mild anger...!
me: Here was the biggest mistake i made. i didn't take my marksheets with me. i only had a copy, of the transcript, that too unsigned....! i fumbled around with it. and then took the courage to give it to her.
she wasn't too pleased abt this.. and then she was so irritated at my inability to understand her accent when she said, do you have any backlogs. i said, do you have any what...? she said backlogs.../
i thought she ws asking me for my bank records. and again started fumbling inside my folder. after looking at what i was doing, she called me and said, sir, i asked you a question and you just keep fumbling inside your folder...?
something came over me then. i just blurted out, mam i just can't understand your ACCENT...!!!
and then she said, ok, do you have any failures in the exam....! i was relieved and said, oh you meant that...! no i don't have any failures either at UG or PG level. then she asked me, what's your score percentage in college. i said, its 68.82 %. she didn't seem mightily impressed. then she said, ok, what have you been doing all these years since graduation. i said, i completed a residency in pediatrics. she asked, in what. i said, pediatrics. that's when her face first showed some signs of a smile. then she asked, have you taken your step 1.i said, yes, here is my score sheet.
i most definitely feel, it was the nmbers on that sheet that made up either her, or the computer she was frantically using throughout the interview, to give me a visa....! 247 / 99. it was when she saw it, that she finally typed in something, and finally said, SIR, YOUR VISA IS APPROVED, YOUR PASSPORT WILL BE ISSUED IN TWO DAYS.
I JUST HAD ENERGY LEFT IN ME, TO BLURT OUT THANKS.....!!!
that's it, fellas. the saga ofmy visa interview...! onto step 2 CS now...!
today, on 1st august 2007, i had my Visa interview in chennai, for step 2 CS. below follows a complete transcript of what happenned....!!
anyway, all those guys i mentioned abt earlier ot their Visa cleared. then i walked upto to the beautiful young girl seated in the visa counter. she was really nice....!! i actually wanted to tell her so, but didn't have the courage later on, after how my interview went.
First of all Congrats on getting the visa! I sense a lot of similarities in your and my Visa interview (I'll post my experience so late cos i was too busy earlier). Specially the pretty girl part!!! LOL
jaydoc wrote:
she: your folder please.
me: here it is ( abt the only thing i did right in there...!!)
I think we have to push only the DS-156, DS-157 an our passport inside and no folders!?! How come you were asked for a folder and what all had you kept in that folder?? Maybe procedures are a bit different at different consulates.
jaydoc wrote:
something came over me then. i just blurted out, mam i just can't understand your ACCENT...!!!
I think its better you said that, otherwise she would have drawn her own conclusions about your confusion.
Anyways, finally you have the visa and thats the good part. Good luck for your CS!
Hey I have a query. Actually I have not been doing any job for past few months since I completed my MBBS. But most of my friends put in some name of clinic/hospital and got an employers letter from that clinic stating that I have been working with so and so doc. My friends say giving it that u r not employed gives in wrong impression. One doc is willing to give me an employer's letter?What's ur take?
What about u jaydoc?
this was the incident i talked abt in the prev post.
first of all let me say this. the principal consul of Chennai, walked up to those of us standing in the queque and addressed us in an informal manner.
this is what he told us.
1. i will tell you the way to get a visa.
2. we are NOT here TO REJECT your visa....! definitely not for no reason...!
3. the real key to getting a visa is, ANSWER to the POINT. don't keep side-tracking issues.
4. be honest. don't falsify info, because the VOs are seasoned pros, who have seen and heard of all the TRICKS many times...!
5. and when you get to the counter, go and say a BIG HELLO.... the VOs there have been tired, they are having a hard two years out here in the tropical heat, and it makes them irritable at times, having to see off so many people every day...! so a big hello, will really freshen up their day...!
6. take the ORIGINALS of all RELEVANT docs.
7. for short stays, FINANCE isn't the key. what you NEED is a convincing reason to say why youu want to go the US.
that's what the chief consular official of my city told us. and he said it before the interview. it helped me gain a lot of confidence.
nothing was asked much in my interview. as far as i can guess, a good score in step 1 or 2 or both seems to be the best way to get a visa these days. and a record that you are working somewhere. this is what i inferred from my visa interview. they didn't even ask me how long i planned to stay, and whether i had good financial statements. in fact the one thing the VO didn't even ask for was my bank statements.
each one has a different take on the issue, mine is that if you be relevant and polite and have done your steps and have at least one score in hand you should be getting your visa without much difficulty.
i would advise you to do the same too, if you can. if you can't, then don't worry too much. if you have given your steps, then this should not be a major issue.
however, let me say this. they seem to hae some sort of ranking system, that lists factors they think to be high-risk for immigration. unemployment after a graduation, that too a medical degree, seems to list high among their evaluated risks. that's what i could gather from many well-informed sources.
i just had the same forms that's mentioned. in Chennai after the initial document scanning of the DS156, DS157, the passport stamping, theseare placed in a separate folder that's given to us by the consulate. we have to give only that to the VO.
all my support docs, we had to carry separately in our own folder.
i am employed.... in a chennai hospital. so i didn't make that up. i just asked my dept head who is an AB degree holder, to pep up my letter of employment with choicy, nice phrases...!
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I sense a lot of similarities in your and my Visa interview (I'll post my experience so late cos i was too busy earlier). Specially the pretty girl part!!! LOL 
How come you were asked for a folder and what all had you kept in that folder?? Maybe procedures are a bit different at different consulates.
