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Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... v a. Purpose of manual ................................................................................................................ v b. About Leso Managment ....................................................................................................... v c. Materials needed to apply for an American student visa .................................................... vi d. Definition of Materials needed .......................................................................................... vii I-94 form ................................................................................................................................ vii I-20 form ............................................................................................................................... viii F-1 visa ................................................................................................................................. viii SEVIS fee ............................................................................................................................... ix Passport Photograph ............................................................................................................... ix Evidence of financial resource ................................................................................................ x Steps to follow when starting an application .................................................................................. 1 The process of submitting documents............................................................................................. 3 Visa paper work and Interview ....................................................................................................... 7 a. Documents to take to the embassy ....................................................................................... 8 b. How to dress to an embassy ................................................................................................. 8 c. Common Interview questions ............................................................................................... 9 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 11 Index ............................................................................................................................................. 12 Work Cited .................................................................................................................................... 13

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Introduction

Introduction
a. Purpose of manual
This training manual will help employees to perform better in helping clients obtain an American Student Visa. It would also be a source of reference or guideline on how to start, process and be successful in a college or visa application. This manual would help Leso Management Study Abroad Program / Travel Management Department to be successful. The training material will include a manual in Microsoft Word with well-detailed pictures, that can be updated in the study abroad field of Leso Management website. For this manual, we would assume that the client is trying to apply to, University of North Texas, a school in the United States of America. In the western part of Africa, most parents want to send their children abroad to countries such as: United States of America, United Kingdom, or France. So their children would have a better education and go back home with a degree that would stand out in their country. In order for these children to go abroad they have to go through a long process. Leso Management works hand-in-hand with the parents of children to make sure they go through the process of studying abroad the right way. In order to go study abroad, you would need a lot of paper work to be done such as: visa application document, I-94 application form, service fee form, the desired schools admission documents. Employees at some office locations have not been trained on the processes to fill out these forms correctly, when to fill it out with the applicant, when to submit the forms and the right documents to attach when sending in a particular form to an embassy. The lack of training has caused loss of customers; because most people after they are rejected once at the embassy, they wouldnt want to apply again through the same travel agency they applied with when they were rejected, lost time, lost revenue. Training materials are needed for employees in the Study Abroad Programs Department and the Travel Management Department.

b. About Leso Managment

Leso Management is a very broad and diverse company. It was incorporated in 1995. For the first ten years of its existence, the company provided educational and management consultancy services to Public and Private enterprises. Then in 2005 the company changed direction into the field of Information Communications Technologies (I.C.T). The companys major strength in ICT has been the Internet and News Media. Starting in 2007, the company entered into a strategic partnerships with people in various industries and has since developed gradually subsidiaries or departments that offer the following other services: Human Resources & Management; WWW & Internet; Image & Perception Management; Travel management; Study abroad programs; Destination Management; Seminars & Conferences With a head office in Lagos and offices in Abuja, and other west African countries such as: Ghana, Cameroon, Benin republic. The company is strategically positioned to offer a great customer services. The travel management and study abroad program has gradually become one of Leso management primary source of income and it has been growing very fast with smaller branches in less popular cities in Nigeria such as Benin city, Warri city and Port-Harcourt city.

How to Obtain an American Student Visa

c. Materials needed to apply for an American student visa

I-94 form / online link USA F-1 Visa application form USA visa interview past question SEVIS fee I-20 form Computers with internet access University of North Texas application form for international students (paper/online version) Passport photograph Passport Evidence of financial resource

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Introduction

d. Definition of Materials needed

I-94 form
This is a form that shows the Arrival-Departure Record of particular foreigners used by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This form helps the U.S government to keep track of when a foreigner enters and leaves the U.S. This form must be filled correctly before a foreigner can enter the U.S. This form is very easy to fill out. All a Client needs to do is fill in their family name first, their first (given) name, Country of Citizenship and their date of birth.

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How to Obtain an American Student Visa

I-20 form
This is also known as the Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status-For Academic and Language Students. It is a US department for homeland security document specifically for student and exchange visitors program (SEVP). The school you are trying to apply to always issues it. The form includes a student tracking number know as SEVIS ID number and the school code. This form also includes a breakdown of the students tuition, living expenses, books expenses and insurance fee for a semester. It also includes an approximate amount of funds a clients family will spend on their education, and general information the student provided during their application.

F-1 visa
This is a type of non-immigrants visa that allows international students to pursue education in the U.S.

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Introduction

SEVIS fee
This is a U.S federal government mandated fee currently $200 which must be paid by all foreign nationals applying for an F-1, J-1 or M-1 visa before the visa may be issued.

Passport Photograph
This is a face photograph alone with a straight face. It has different sizes.

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How to Obtain an American Student Visa

Evidence of financial resource

This is a document requested from the embassy to proof that a student can afford their tuition and fees, living expenses and other essentials for a complete school year. It is usually in form of bank statements, fixed properties such as lands and houses. This can be obtained from your bank or printed out online if you have an online banking access. It is easy to obtain because eevery banks know how to prepare this document for their customers. All the customer has to do is to go up to the bank and tell them they need a bank statement to use it for a visa application. Depending on the bank policy some may do it for free or some may charge some from your account.

Steps to follow when starting an application

A parent comes to Leso management office in Lagos state Nigeria with an interest in sending their child to the University of North Texas in the U.S.

Chapter I

Steps to follow when starting an application

1. Make sure you take down notes of everything the customer says. 2. Ask you customer if they have any school in mind, If they dont give try to find out what part
of the America they would prefer. For example: - if they would like to school in a big city such as New York and accommodate the cold or in the country like Texas and accommodate the heat. Just find their preference every customer have something they prefer. If you are and the client are both having difficulty with selecting a school, go online and look up schools that are best fit for your customer desired major and are available in places they would be comfortable in. When the customer has chosen a school wither from the one we suggested or a school they already had in mind. Then go online to the University of North Texas or which ever school the customer chose to find out their international student admission required documents and their different semester application deadline because to be considered for admission a complete package must be received by the school before the required deadline.

3. 4. 5. 6.

How to Obtain an American Student Visa

7. Ask your customer what semester they would like to start and then based off what you saw
on UNTs website, then let your customer know if they can still apply for that semester at that point in time or not.

8. After you and your customer have come to a conclusion on what semester they want to apply
for, then you can start working with a deadline for every document requested or required from the college. 9. Tell sure the customer have all the required documents in file and ready to turn them in whenever the school request for it. 10. Start the college online application or you could download a PDF version and fill it with the requested information. 11. Turn it in online and pay the application fee using a debit or credit card. If it is a hand written paper application you would have to mail it the school with the application fee sent inform of check or money order. This process may take a longer time, so advice the customer to do the online version.

How to Obtain an American Student Visa

The Process of submitting documents

Chapter I

The process of submitting documents

1) Submit all credentials online such as: the customers high school diplomas, TOEFL result, SAT (not all school require it for an international student). 2) Every document submitted by the student must be translated to English by the institution that gave the result. 3) Most school would request for the original copy of the documents, so you would to mail it to the school. 4) If the school request for an essay or letter of application, guide the customer on how to write a good one that would make them to be considered for the admission. 5) Make sure you stay in contact with the school and turn in everything at least one week before the desired deadline. This would show how much interest our client has in the school. 6) Wait for a reply from the school about admission status of our customer. This may take 4-6 weeks. Within this period keep in contact with your client. Let them know what is going on. Encourage them that it usually takes that amount of time for an American college to respond on admission status. Customers tend to worry a lot due to the long wait for reply. For example: - In 2011 there was this client that we were processing his application to study medicine in Manchester city England and through out the wait period he would always call our office or come to the office to ask our staffs what the status of his application was. There was this day he threatened one of our staffs that if he didnt get his admission he was going to burn down our office. However our staff was still polite and tried to encourage him that we would get his letter in the mail soon. Fortunately for him his acceptance letter came in while he was still in the office talking about what he would do if he didnt get his acceptance letter. When he saw the letter he then realized what he did wrong and apologized.

Visa Paper work and Interview

Congratulations! You received an acceptance letter and an I-20 form from the University of North Texas for the student you have been you working with to get an admission. The next thing to do is to start visa application and visa paper work.

Visa paper work and Interview

1) Contact the client and let them know of the good news. 2) Send a thank you letter to the University of North Texas on behalf on your client. 3) Explain to your client what an I-20 form is, then your client would have to fill out the part that needs their full name, the date and their signatures.

4) Start F-1 visa application online by visiting the U.S department of state website (http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1268.html). 5) Fill out all the information correctly as it was giving to you by you client. 6) Then tell your client to pay the application fee of $16. 7) Make sure you revise everything after filling it out because one mistake could lead to your client been rejected at the U.S embassy. 8) Tell your client to pay SEVIS fee of $200 through money order and fill out SEVIS fee paper then mail it to their office in the U.S 9) Schedule an Interview time slot with the nearest U.S embassy.

How to Obtain an American Student Visa 10) At least a week before the scheduled interview day you have to tell your client what documents they would need to take to the embassy, how to dress to the embassy and questions to they should be expecting.

a. Documents to take to the embassy

o o o o o o Passport Passport photograph in right size I-901 or SEVIS Fee receipt Acceptance letter from college I-20 Evidence of financial resource in form of bank statement or property

b. How to dress to an embassy

o Wear comfortable clothes depending on the weather. o Dress business casual. o Look neat, smart, professional and very confident.

Chapter III

c. Common Interview questions

o o o o o o Why do you want to study in the U.S? Have you ever been to the U.S? What will you do after completing your undergraduate degree in the U.S? Do you have any relatives in the U.S? What does your parent do for a living? Will you be able to fund your tuition and fees through out college with out asking the U.S government for loans? 11) Tell your client to prepare all the documents above. An attire to wear on that day and Prepare to answer any questions that they will be asked truthfully. 12) Schedule a mock visa Interview with your client three days to their actual interview. Tell the client to come prepared as if it were the main interview at the U. S embassy. 13) During the mock interview point out the things that your client need to perfect on before going to the embassy. 14) A day before the interview contact your client and make sure they are fully ready for the interview and the wish them good luck. 15) Contact your Client after the interview and asked them how it was. 99% of people who followed the entire step and carried the right documents usually get their visa.

Conclusion

Conclusion
After you talk to your client and they give you the good news that they received their American F-1 student visa then they can come to our office to pay for the service we rendered to them. However not everyone is lucky, some people dont get their visa and they get frustrated and sad. You would have to talk to them, try to calm them down and encourage them that they could apply again. Find out what went wrong with their first interview and then show the customer corrections on things that would help their next application better. Most of our customers who didnt get their visas the first time come back to us because they realize they didnt follow the procedures we gave to them. When they try the second time following the right procedures they usually get their visas.

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How to Obtain an American Student Visa

Index
C client, 3'

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Index customer, vi, 1, 2, 3, 2, 3 E embassy, 9 F F-1 visa, ix I-20 form, viii I-94 form, viii

S
SEVIS fee, x

Work Cited
Asselmeier, Adrienne. 5 steps to finding buisness casual bargains. 12 09 2013. 27 11 2013 <http://careergirlnetwork.com/5-steps-finding-business-casual-bargains/>.

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How to Obtain an American Student Visa Feedio.net. Causual clothes for men. 2013. 26 11 2013 <http://food-pictures.feedio.net/casualclothes-for-men-clothes-for-men-casual-and-trendy/shierlyrichard.com*wpcontent*uploads*2011*11*casual-clothes-for-men.jpg/>. Immihelp. Visas. 1999. 24 11 2013 <http://www.immihelp.com/visas/studentvisa/f1-visadocuments.html>. North Central College. Naperville illinois. 10 1998. 24 11 2013 <http://northcentralcollege.edu/admission/immigration-status-terms>. OSEWEGO State University of New York. 24 11 2013 <http://www.oswego.edu/academics/international/ISSS/bulletinboard.html#SEVIS>. State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Office of international education. International students. 2013. 24 11 2013 <http://www.esf.edu/international/I20.htm>. University of North texas. UNT International. 25 11 2013 <http://international.unt.edu/admissions-home/prospective-students/freshmen>. University of north Texas. UNT International (Deadlines and other important dates). 25 11 2013 <http://international.unt.edu/node/77>. US visa photos. 24 11 2013 <http://www.kodakexpresscamden.com/Passport-US-Visa.html>. WordPress. Study Abroad Students. 8 1 2013. 20 11 2013 <http://studyabroadstudents.net/studyabroad-guide/why-study-abroad/>. (State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry) (OSEWEGO State University of New York) (North Central College. Naperville illinois)

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