PROMOTING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN INDIA AND THE U.S.
Advice From Former Scholar:
2016 Khorana Scholar, Kanika Jain, has written this blog to share her experience of B1/B2 visa processing:
Just like you, I had also been instructed to apply for B1/B2 visa. I did the same and carried with me all the required documents mentioned on the USA visa site i.e. Khorana offer letter, acceptance letter from the professor, No Objection Certificate from my home institution, recent bank statement and other educational and ID proofs such as driving license on my visa interview date.
During my interview, the consular office asked me for my offer letter and my passport. He asked about the program, the professor and his work, my current position and the project I would have been doing in US. He kept searching in his system during the conversation which, in my opinion, might be about the program and lab and after all the questioning, he stated that this situation is purely applicable to J1 type visa and he could not understand why I have been asked for applying to B1/B2 visa and that he would not been able to provide me this visa category. He handed over me the passport and asked me to apply for J1 visa through emergency portal. HE DIDN’T REJECT MY VISA APPLICATION. I was unaware about the difference between B1/B2 visa and J1 visa category at that time, so I was not able to defend myself at that point.
Next, I read through the documents required to apply for J1 visa and came to know that I will be requiring DS2019 form from UW Madison that would take 3-4 weeks minimum, which wasn’t feasible in short period of time. Thus, I approached one of the US visa consultancy in Delhi and they described me the difference between J1 and B1/B2 visa category. The difference is briefly as follows:
• B1/B2 visa category is applicable for the individual visiting US for meeting relative/friends, for medical purposes on temporary basis and is not being financially supported by USA government in any form.
• J1 visa category belongs to visitors /scholars coming to US on exchange program to participate in workshops, conferences, study tours, professional meetings or to receive training that will improve the visitor’s knowledge of U.S. techniques, methodologies, and expertise; similar to our program.
The only option I had at that time was to apply again for B1/B2 visa with improvised documents that highlight our situation more suitable for B1/B2 visa. I was provided with a detailed offer letter which clearly states that I am not being funded by US government/UW Madison or US faculty in any form. The stipend which I would be receiving would be from Indian government. With that document as my defense, I applied again and handed over this document with highlighted funding statement to consular and luckily he didn’t raised any objection and the B1/B2 VISA was approved on the spot.