F1 visa renewal

[pretsb]

Hi all,
Please advise me on a few things regarding F1 visa renewal. I'm pursuing my PhD in USA in Computer Science. My visa expires in June 2014. I had a 4 year visa since I got 221g the first time. I plan to visit India in Dec 2013 to get married and renew my F1 visa at the same time. I have a few questions:

1. What is the earliest that I can apply for visa renewal? I've heard the time frame 6 months from everyone but I haven't seen anything concrete on any website.
2. Since I'll get married around the same time as my visa renewal (perhaps a day or two before), how should I handle the questions related to marital status etc. in the visa application? My fiance works in the USA and will be on H1B at that time. I do not want to give the visa officer any reasons for rejecting my visa so I'm a little apprehensive about this.

Thanks for your time and help!

[kabkaba]

Hi all,
Please advise me on a few things regarding F1 visa renewal. I'm pursuing my PhD in USA in Computer Science. My visa expires in June 2014. I had a 4 year visa since I got 221g the first time. I plan to visit India in Dec 2013 to get married and renew my F1 visa at the same time. I have a few questions:

1. What is the earliest that I can apply for visa renewal? I've heard the time frame 6 months from everyone but I haven't seen anything concrete on any website.

-- You don't have to apply but if you want you can apply at any time. If the first Visa was issued for the same school and program, you will be eligible for interview waiver. Chances of approval are high if you have not graduated at that time.

2. Since I'll get married around the same time as my visa renewal (perhaps a day or two before), how should I handle the questions related to marital status etc. in the visa application? My fiance works in the USA and will be on H1B at that time. I do not want to give the visa officer any reasons for rejecting my visa so I'm a little apprehensive about this.

-- Questions in DS 160 and in during the interview (if any) must be answered as the facts stand on the day of the interview.

Thanks for your time and help!

See above.

[pretsb]

Thank you so much! I got a 221g the first time so I think I will have to appear for the visa interview. The new guidelines say that the visa should not have 'Clearance Received' annotated on it. But thanks for your advice

[kabkaba]

You should be prepared for another admin processing delay in that case.

[back2life]

No clearance received on travel docs website

You should be prepared for another admin processing delay in that case.

Hi there,

I am currently going for visa renewal (drop-box program) and was looking at the instructions on the traveldocs website for the same. I noticed that the traveldocs site does not say anything about clearance received annotation (I have that annotation on my expired visa) whereas on the embassy website they do mention that clearance received visa holders are ineligible (the embassy page seems to be last updated about 2 years ago). Also the majority of posts here are a year or two older.

Have the requirements changed in the last two years? Could anyone help me clarify this issue?

Thanks!