Questions about F1 Visa

[vishucool]

Hi Everyone,

MY Wife and I are currently staying in US. I am working on H1-B Visa and my Wife is on H4 Visa. She has applied for Graduate Admissions in Universities of US for Spring classes (beginning in Jan 2013) and she is planning to goto India in Nov 1st week.
She is hoping to get accepted by the Universities and once she gets the I-20 Form, she will apply for the F1 Visa from India.

I have some questions and it would be great if someone could answer for the same.

1. As my Wife will apply for F1 Visa from INDIA (and she is currently on H4), approx how much time it could take to get F1 Visa from India ?
2. Is the process of getting F1 Visa bit different if you apply from being in US or if you do from INDIA ?
3. Currently on H4 Visa, if my Wife applies F1 Visa from India, will it still be a Change of Status for her and the process would be the same as someone from India (who never had H4 Visa) applying for F1 Visa. If it would be a change of status for her, does that process gets more complicated or takes more time ?
4. For applying for F1 Visa, I will be the sponsor for my Wife and I have more than sufficient funds (2 times) for the fees etc in my Indian bank account but I do not maintain a good balance in my US bank accounts. So just getting the bank statement from Indian banks will suffice or I need to have good balance in US bank accounts too ?
5. While applying for F1 Visa from INDIA, considering the worst case scenario, if my Wife’s F1 Visa application gets rejected, will her H4 Visa also get cancelled and she will have to apply for H4 Visa again ? If yes, will that be a simple process (as in, similar to a new application) or it could turn out to be a complicated process ?

Thanks in advance for your help !

Regards,
Vishal

[vroni]

Instead of applying for the F-1 visa have you considered changing status while in the US? That way your wife does not need to leave the country and she can start to study on H-4 pending the decision of the change of status.

There is no way to tell how long a visa application might take. I got my visa within a week, while other waited several weeks, or even months.

[vishucool]

Instead of applying for the F-1 visa have you considered changing status while in the US? That way your wife does not need to leave the country and she can start to study on H-4 pending the decision of the change of status.

There is no way to tell how long a visa application might take. I got my visa within a week, while other waited several weeks, or even months.

Thanks vroni !
Actually the University itself is recommending my Wife to goto India and apply for F1 Visa from there.

[kabkaba]

Hi Everyone,

MY Wife and I are currently staying in US. I am working on H1-B Visa and my Wife is on H4 Visa. She has applied for Graduate Admissions in Universities of US for Spring classes (beginning in Jan 2013) and she is planning to goto India in Nov 1st week.
She is hoping to get accepted by the Universities and once she gets the I-20 Form, she will apply for the F1 Visa from India.

I have some questions and it would be great if someone could answer for the same.

1. As my Wife will apply for F1 Visa from INDIA (and she is currently on H4), approx how much time it could take to get F1 Visa from India ?
-- Same as any other Visa application

2. Is the process of getting F1 Visa bit different if you apply from being in US or if you do from INDIA ?
-- There is no F1 Visa 'from being in the US'. You apply for a Visa when you are abroad and want to travel to US. Whether you have previously been to the US or not does not change the process.

3. Currently on H4 Visa, if my Wife applies F1 Visa from India, will it still be a Change of Status for her and the process would be the same as someone from India (who never had H4 Visa) applying for F1 Visa. If it would be a change of status for her, does that process gets more complicated or takes more time ?

-- Traveling abroad and returning with a different Visa is a method of changing status. See above. Of course as in any F1 Visa application, there is a risk that she will not be able to show ties to home country. The risk is somewhat higher because her spouse is working in the US.

4. For applying for F1 Visa, I will be the sponsor for my Wife and I have more than sufficient funds (2 times) for the fees etc in my Indian bank account but I do not maintain a good balance in my US bank accounts. So just getting the bank statement from Indian banks will suffice or I need to have good balance in US bank accounts too ?

-- That is fine.

5. While applying for F1 Visa from INDIA, considering the worst case scenario, if my Wife’s F1 Visa application gets rejected, will her H4 Visa also get cancelled and she will have to apply for H4 Visa again ? If yes, will that be a simple process (as in, similar to a new application) or it could turn out to be a complicated process ?

-- It is possible, at the discetion of consular officer. But, it will not have any negative impact on her future H4 application.

Thanks in advance for your help !

Regards,
Vishal

See above.
If travel is not otherwise planned, changing status within the US by filing I-539 is advisable. But after that whenever she leaves the US and wants to return in F1 status, she will have to apply for F1 Visa anyway. If you do that it is better to apply for F1 Visa before she graduates (not while on OPT).