hey all i'm Apurva and welcome back to WeDesified last week we organized a virtual meet and greet
session for the incoming students here at iupui and they had a lot of questions about booking
their flights finding transportation from the airport and things to do once they are here
our team did a fantastic job answering all their questions and then we thought
this information should be shared with a wider audience since i'm sure many of you
would be also having the same questions and so that is why we will be answering some of
the most important questions for the students who are coming to the us for the first time
so let's get to it but before that if you find our content helpful then please like this video
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while answering these questions we try to keep it as generic as possible to help students coming for
different different universities but some of this information can vary based on the college
you want to go to so just make sure to cross check how it applies to your specific case
but i can assure you that this is very valuable information that you can get only by experience
so let's begin first question is what should we do after getting the visa approved
this is a very broad question and i'll try to answer as much as possible
but before i get into this i hope you're following our study in the usa series we
recently made videos about how to fill the ds 160 and how to book the visa slots and also share the
latest experiences of the students who have given their f1 visa interviews so if you haven't checked
them yet please watch them and we'll be also making more videos about the visa interview soon
so coming back once your visa is approved and you get your passport back you should let your college
international students office know about the visa approval most colleges ask you to scan and upload
the visa printed on your passport so you should do that first after that you should look into finding
accommodation registering for classes booking your flight tickets getting the immunization
requirements done etc we will talk about each of them in detail in the following questions
second question is how to book the flight tickets this would definitely be one of the most stressful
things in this process because the prices keep going up and up every day and you don't know
which routes to take which airlines to fly and how to get the best price we all have been there
make my trip and go ibibo are popular in india but i would suggest you to check the
us-based websites like the student universe priceline and kayak as well student universe
especially gives some good discounts if you have an active student email id that ends with dot edu
by this time you would activate your university email id so you can take advantage of that and
you already know about the group discounts some of the agents and websites provide
so if you can find a group of students that match your travel route and dates then you can get some
good prices and you can find the students from whatsapp or telegram groups about the roots since
the kobit restrictions are almost lifted across all the countries you have a lot of options to
choose from usually arab airlines like qatar ethiad emirates give better matches in terms of
price and services but airlines like british air france and lufthansa provide great services too
if you're transiting through any country then you usually wouldn't require transit visa
unless there is a day change or you're staying there for more than 12 hours at the airport
some european countries and sometimes canada might still ask you for a transit visa which you can
easily get within a couple of days for a nominal fee but you will have to pay close attention to
these details while booking the tickets so that you will be better prepared otherwise it could be
a mess if you get to know about the transit visa only at the airport and you have to cancel a trip
because of that for the layovers it is recommended to keep at least three hours between any two stops
and up to four to five hours if it is a busy airport and it is also your port of entry
international airports usually have multiple terminals with long security check lines
so if it is less than three hours then you would have to hurry a lot and if it is more than five
hours then you will get bored so keeping it between three to five hours is a good strategy
the third question is how to find accommodation again this is a very subjective question depending
upon the college you would be going to the city and how things work there but to generalize the
undergraduate students usually have a requirement to stay on campus for at least one year
if you are coming for a master's or a phd program then you wouldn't have such requirements
so the off-campus housing would be much cheaper in comparison by off-campus housing we mean
renting a place on your own which is closer to your campus or other facilities this could be
a little complicated sometimes because you will have to sign the lease on your own and pay hefty
security deposit amounts get water connection electricity gas wi-fi connection and get furniture
etc etc so if you have some flatmates to help then you can share some of these responsibilities and
the cost will also be shared so finding roommates or flatmates could be a first step here another
option is joining the current students like many times students who are studying there currently
will have vacancies because some of their roommates will graduate or shift to other houses
and in that case you can join to fill that vacancy this would be very convenient because they would
have already set up everything and you don't have to start from scratch but you have to make sure
that the condition of the house is good and the existing flatmates are kind before you join them
otherwise it could end up with huge fines and unpleasant experiences
we have seen many instances like these over the years and will make a detailed video about
it soon if you are interested one more thing i want to mention here is about the rangers camps
when are trying to find the roommates or places to rent on these facebook groups or marketplaces
be very cautious and do not send huge amounts of money without personal confirmation there are
a lot of scams that happen with this leasing and renting especially with the international students
and it is easy to get scammed because you literally have no idea about how things work here
so be very very cautious and never transfer anything over a couple of hundred dollars to
any personal accounts before coming here the next question is about the immunization requirements
u.s universities have certain vaccination requirements for the international students
when they come here for the first time the list of vaccines might vary from college to
college but mostly they need two roses of mmr two doses of varicella tdap meningitis and a tb test
most of these vaccines we would have taken them as a kid except for the tdap and the tb test if
you have documentation for that or if you have a family doctor then you can get the required proofs
and submit them to the college most colleges ask you to take the tdap within the last 10 years
so that could be an exception after landing in the u.s the colleges will ask you to do a tb test
that must be done inside the u.s so if you have a report from india that would not be accepted
and with respect to the vaccines at least in our college and some of the other colleges the
university health insurance covers these vaccines for students at free of cost so if that's the case
for you and you have to take the vaccines then you can get them even after coming here for free
you can get these details on the international admissions page of your college some colleges
are not so strict about these vaccinations but it is for your own good since healthcare is super
expensive in the us also just to note immunization and immigration are two different things
the immigration officers won't ask you to show the vaccination proofs when you enter into the u.s
the next question is how to find transportation from the airport to your recommendation if you
have friends or relatives who can pick you up from the airport then that would be great but
if not then this could be little trouble i say this because many of the colleges in the us are
in the college towns or little far away from the commercial places the public transportation in the
u.s is bad since everyone here has a car cities like new york or chicago are an exception but
here we are talking about many other places uber and lyft won't accept your credit cards from your
home country and you would also require a us-based mobile number for confirmation which you probably
wouldn't have when you're traveling to the us for the first time so airport cabs could be a good
option here as they accept cash some colleges or organizations provide complimentary airport pickup
services for the new incoming students so if your college is one of them then definitely go for it
since it would be tiresome to figure out transportation on your own carrying multiple bags
if you're landing at night then safety and security should also be considered
you can carry some cash in u.s dollars with you for these cabs or to buy things at the airport
but not more than a few hundred dollars you can legally carry up to ten thousand dollars in cash
but carrying huge amounts of cash is not advisable you can use a forex card or wire transfer it
directly to your us account once you open the account in a couple of days after coming here but
do not carry large sums in cash while travelling the next question is can we work off campus
this is a strict no as an international student on an f1 visa you are only eligible to work on campus
you are only eligible to work with your university as an employer or the employers affiliated and
approved by your university and that too only for 20 hours a week working outside on campus without
proper work authorization and working more than 20 hours is strictly illegal according to the visa
rules and you can be deported if you're caught you might hear from other people that students work
off campus and they can work for more hours and get paid well but honestly don't do it it's not
worth the risk it can terminate your service and you won't be able to enter into the u.s for years
if dhs finds out that you are working illegally so please consult your international students
office if you have any questions about the job or employer and always follow the rules
so these are some of the questions we think would help most of the students
that are coming to the us for the first time i know there are still
a lot of questions to be answered but we don't want this video to go for too long
if you have any more questions that you want us to answer then please ask us in the comment section
below we will reply and make more videos answering all your questions hope this video is helpful if
you haven't watched our previous videos yet then go watch them now if you find this video useful
then please like and share it see you in the next video until then take care keep learning bye