know that the Visa officer is always trying to think what's the most negative possible scenario here the most common red flag would be if you've been refused previously that question is actually the Visa officer trying to find the easiest way to end the [Music] inter I know home ties is one of the big red flags that Visa officers are looking for but any other red flags that people need to know about for especially the F1 visa interview yeah these are these red flags I like to call them hurdles too because uh you got highlights which are the things that are helping you get your visa issued your financials your academics uh whatever they may be your professional background but then there are these hurdles these red flags which are going to be things that at first glance are going to make the Visa officer suspect that they shouldn't give you the Visa and what you need to do is know what these red flags are and know how to counter them when the Visa officer brings them up the most common red flag would be if you've been refused previously if you've been refused before that's the first piece of information that the Visa officer will see especially if you apply in the same location so if you applied in Mumbai and you got refused and then you apply in Mumbai again when they scan your passport the first thing that they see is you were refused before you apply in a different post they won't see that immediately they'll see it about four or five seconds later it's still right at the very beginning of the of the interview so they're going to see this and they're going to have a negative thought you need to know okay they're going to think that I I should get refused because their colleague already refused me and you need to be ready to counter that how do you counter that usually by bringing up whatever your most Stellar point on your resume is right so if you got admitted and you had a partial scholarship but you got refused before you walk into that interview and they say okay what's your purpose of travel to the US you say I'm going to Tain to study environmental science I applied before and I was refused I'm not sure why because I got a half scholarship to fund my studies it's an academic scholarship because I've you done so well in my undergrad and my parents unfortunate they've been very successful and they can pay for the rest of it putting it into that context there A lot of times they're going to ask that question what's changed since your previous refusal answering that question directly is is usually not the best tactic to overcome that prior refusal because that question is a trap that question is actually the Visa officer trying to find the easiest way to end the interview because they're told by their managers if nothing changed since a previous refusal you should just refuse them again that's a way to make their jobs easy right yeah so when they say this they're trying to to get applicants who are going to say well nothing's changed or they say something irrelevant like well last time I said my father was my sponsor this time I say my mother's my sponsor that's not a real change right yeah and so then they think okay wait they just gave me permission to refuse them again but what they can't ignore is if you give them information that makes them think that you should get issued your Visa so if you've got something like a scholar ship right or the University where you've been admitted right uh or or a grant or a graduate assistantship or uh if your your family has funds and they're able to to pay for your studies whatever that Stellar point on your resume is bring that up at the beginning because if they get that thought in their head they want to make the right decision Visa officers want to make the right decision in fact they believe that they are making the right decision every single time so if you tell them something that makes them think oh wait why would this person be refused if that's true they're going to investigate it to see if it's credible and if it changes their mind and if they're going to issue that Visa so first thing very beginning counter those red flags bring up that thing that information another red flag would be if you've got a family member who is in the US right if you just say on your resume you know there's part uh on your ds160 there's a question that asks if you have any relatives in the US you can put their names and their relation to you so if you just say yes my brother's in the US they ask you oh your brother's in the US yes know that the Visa officer is always trying to think what's the most negative possible scenario here so when you say that you've got a a sibling in the US the first thought that that Visa officer has is oh did they did they somehow stay in the US illegally that's their first thought right they're they're thinking oh if it's illegal then I'm going to refuse them right or if it's an overstay or if it's a uh a change of status right so if somebody goes on on an F visa and then gets married and gets a green card the Visa officers despite that being completely legal might interpret that as negative you've got to add context you've got to add the story if it's to an H1B definitely add add more details to let them know hey this was a prestigious transfer oh yeah my brother went to the US and he studied at University of Minnesota and now he's working at Intel as an engineer okay that's whole different path than oh my brother went on a tourist visa and then applied for Asylum and that was refused and then he got uh temporary protected status and then he went out of status and then he got married to a US citizen right that's a completely different story so if you get that good story definitely highlight the the good parts and show yeah I've got a family member that did things the right way on the other hand if you've got a family member that did things in a way that the Visa officers are going to interpret negatively you need to draw differentiation yes my sister did this but I've got a different situation I've got a different plan right you have to you have to acknowledge those negatives and then give the information that counters it yeah speaking of what you just mentioned shot's asking is winning a lottery before I'm guessing a DV Lottery beforehand would that be a red flag when applying for a different Visa if it's a H1B Lottery then no but if it's the DV Lottery it could be yes if you actually get selected in the DV ly and put in an application for it uh and especially if you've appeared for an interview for that DV that DV Visa that's going to show up in their system and applying for a DV Visa shows immigrant intent right you showed up for an interview to get a a green card Visa to go to the US so then if you go in the next year and say no I have no immigrant intent at all it's it's going to be much harder for you to prove that to them right because they're going to say what well I've got immigrant intent right here in my record right you you submitted the documents usually though if you just uh apply for the DV that's not something that they're considering in the interview gotcha thanks for clarifying that