No, U.S. consular officers are not permitted to consider a candidate’s religion as a factor in visa award or denial. Standard U.S. visa application forms do not even ask what your religion is.

The U.S. has a strong tradition of religious and political freedom—the consulate cannot legally discriminate based on such grounds and your views alone will generally not prevent you from obtaining a visa. However, part of the job of the consular staff is obviously security—they cannot allow anyone into the country who may advocate violent means for advancing a particular political or religious goal. If you have associations with groups that are believed by the U.S. government to pursue or advocate such violent means for reaching their goals, then you may encounter difficulties in obtaining a visa.

No, it depends on the volume of cases being processed and how complicated your particular case is to check, not to mention embassy closures and other sometimes unpredictable circumstances. You will want to apply as early as possible and if possible avoid peak times such as summer and holiday periods.

Yes, there is no guarantee though certainly the fact that you hold an I-20 or DS-2019 form provides strong evidence of your seriousness of purpose. The consular officer needs to verify that your study plans are realistic, that you will have funding to support your stay, and that you are indeed planning to come as a student and then return home rather than, for instance, to work or to stay in the United States after you have finished your studies.

No, there is no guarantee. A visa allows you to travel to the United States as far as the port of entry (airport or land border crossing) and ask the immigration officer to allow you to enter the country. Only the immigration officer has the authority to permit you to enter the United States. He or she decides how long you can stay for any particular visit and will give you an I-94 form upon entry stating that (most commonly it will be marked “D/S,” indicating that you will be permitted to stay for the duration of your studies). It is uncommon to be turned back at the port of entry if you have all your paperwork in order, have followed U.S. law and customs regulations, and indicate travel purposes appropriate to the visa that you carry.

No. You have been granted a visa for the purpose of attending a particular school (the first school). If you just show up at the second school instead, your SEVIS student tracking records will be incorrect, which is a serious problem and may even be interpreted as illegal visa fraud. Generally what you need to do is report to the first school on your U.S. arrival and ask them to release you from your admission and make the changes in your SEVIS record that will allow you to then transfer to the second school. Accepting admission to a school is considered a binding contract so you can expect to lose your tuition deposit at a minimum, and the school may even want you to attend their institution for some period before allowing you to transfer.

No, visitors who have stated that they are going to the United States for business or pleasure only (and have been granted a B-1 or B-2 visa on that basis) are prohibited from enrolling in full-time or long-term U.S. study programs and also prohibited from changing to student status once in the United States—you would need to return home to apply to change status. However, you can request that the consular officer issue you a “prospective student” visa if, for instance, you need to visit universities or take a test before deciding where to attend school. This is a B-2 visa on which the officer has noted specifically that you are considering U.S. study and will allow you to seek student status in the United States.

All visa application information is checked against a security database in Washington, DC, that contains information from U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies. You may have to undergo further review if your name is similar to someone on the security “watch list” or if you are planning to study a field considered “sensitive” (mainly scientific and technical fields).

Even in the approximately 2 percent of cases where further review is required, a decision on visa issuance is in most cases provided within a month, with added time after such an in-depth review is initiated averaging about fourteen days. Note however, that there is no guaranteed review time period; that depends on the volume of applications being processed and complexity of the review involved.

You will have to pay the visa application fee again, as it covers costs of processing your application, which will need to be done again. If you reapply within 12 months of your first application, you do not have to pay the SEVIS fee again.