your documents
The United States is the one major destination that still decides student visas face to face. Your documents matter, but the interview at Maharajgunj is where the decision is made.
The set below is what a Nepali applicant to the United States is normally asked for. Your institution or your circumstances can add to it — treat this as the floor, and the official checklist as the ceiling.
Form I-20
Issued by your university once admitted and once your funding is evidenced to them.
SEVIS I-901 fee receipt
Paid online before the interview, and carried to it.
DS-160 confirmation page
With the barcode. Completed online at the State Department's site.
Passport
Valid, and matching the I-20 and DS-160 exactly.
Visa fee receipt
Paid through the scheduling system before booking the interview.
Academic documents & test scores
Transcripts, certificates and any standardised tests the university required.
Financial evidence
Supporting the amount stated on your I-20, with a documented source.
Ties to Nepal
Evidence you intend to return — the statutory presumption is that you do not.
There is no VFS centre for a US student visa. You complete the DS-160 online, pay the SEVIS and visa fees, book through the US visa scheduling service, and attend an interview in person at the U.S. Embassy in Maharajgunj. That interview is short, and it is the decision.
U.S. Embassy Kathmandu
Pay SEVIS well before the interview
The payment has to be recorded in the system before your appointment — leaving it to the last days is a common and avoidable failure.
Make the DS-160 match everything else
Names, passport number, university and course must be identical across the DS-160, the I-20 and your passport.
Book early for peak intakes
Appointment slots around the main US intakes go quickly. Book as soon as you have the I-20 and the fee receipts.
Prepare to answer, briefly, in your own words
Why this university, how it is funded, and what you will do afterwards. Rehearsed scripts read badly; understanding your own plan reads well.
Carry the whole file, expect to show little
Officers often decide on a short conversation. Have everything organised anyway — being unable to produce a document when asked is a bad moment.
SEVIS I-901 fee: USD 350
A face-to-face interview: required, at the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu
A panel medical at the visa stage: not required
The F-1 is a non-immigrant visa, and the law presumes every applicant intends to immigrate until they show otherwise. That single fact explains most of what feels arbitrary about the interview: it is a test of intent, not of paperwork.
Where this page shows a blank rather than a number, it is because we could not verify it against a source we would stand behind. A shown gap is more useful than a confident guess.
Most of your file is issued in Nepal and is identical whichever destination you choose. Each of these has its own guide with the office address, the fee and the steps.
The NOC is a Nepal-side requirement, not the United States's — but without it a Nepali bank will not send your tuition, so it blocks everything downstream regardless of where you are going.