Our Process

F-Visa Category
Foreign nationals may enter the United States as non-immigrants in order to engage in academic studies in this country, subject to certain restrictions. These students, who can range from elementary school students to doctoral candidates and persons engaged in post-doctoral studies, are classified in the F visa category.

Application Process

The foreign national seeking to enter the United States to study does not need any advance permission from the Immigration Service. The student must obtain a certificate of eligibility (INS Form I-20) from the academic institution at which he or she will enroll, and submit this certificate, together with a nonimmigrant visa application and supporting documentation, to a U.S. consulate in the alien's home country. Once the visa is issued, the student can apply at the border for admission to the U.S., the same as any nonimmigrant. A prospective student already in the U.S. in a different nonimmigrant status may apply to the INS to change to student status to undertake studies here.

Basic Requirements for Obtaining F-1 Status

1. The alien must be enrolled in an “academic” education program, not a vocational type program.

Enrollment in an elementary school, academic high school, college, university, seminary, conservatory, or language training program qualifies as "academic" study. An "academic" student can be seeking a bachelor's, master's, Ph.D. or other graduate-level degree, or be engaged in post-doctoral studies.
Other programs, including those offered by technical and business schools, and vocational high schools, are considered vocational, requiring the issuance of an M visa.
The school issuing the student the documentation required for a student visa, Form I-20, should know whether the student's program is considered academic and issue the proper documentation. 2. The alien must be enrolled in a school approved by the attorney general for the attendance of foreign students.

Only schools approved by the Attorney General may issue INS Form I-20 to a prospective student certifying his or her eligibility for attendance. The school must include the date of its approval and its INS file number directly on the Form I-20. A U.S. consulate, in ruling on an application for a student visa, will accept Form I-20 as proof that the school is approved by the Attorney General. Any school with a recognized name is almost certainly approved.
3. The alien must be enrolled in a “full course of study" at the school
As a general rule, if an alien student is enrolled to take the usual number of courses needed to complete the requirements for a degree in the usual time, he or she is enrolled in a full course of study. Thus, the number of courses per semester needed to complete a high school or bachelor's degree in four years, or a law degree in three years, would constitute a full course of study.
The INS has established some specific rules with regard to different types of programs that basically follow this general rule:


Postgraduate or postdoctoral research or study: A full course of study is one certified as such by the school. Note that the research or study must be related to the student's degree. While there is no formal limit on the time for such research or study, a program of three years or more will be given careful scrutiny.
Undergraduate study at a seminary or conservatory: A full course of study is one certified as such by the school.
Undergraduate and graduate study at a college or university: A full course of study consists of enrollment in 12 semester or quarter hours a term, if that amount of semester or quarter hours requires payment of full tuition and is considered "full-time" enrollment by the school. The student can take less than 12 semester or quarter hours if fewer hours are needed during the last semester to graduate. A student may also take less than 12 hours if advised to do so for valid academic reasons, or for valid medical reasons, including pregnancy. There is no limit to the number of terms during the student's academic program when he or she takes less than a full course of study; whether the student has maintained valid status, however, is always subject to review by the Immigration Service, which could determine that the student has failed to maintain valid status and require him or her to apply for reinstatement. On the student's first contact with the INS it will review the student advisor's decision to approve less than a full course of study; if the INS finds that the decision was inappropriate it will require the school to demonstrate its good faith in making the decision. The school's accreditation with the INS could be withdrawn if a reasonable explanation cannot be given.
Postsecondary study at other schools awarding at least an associate's degree, or whose credits are accepted for transfer by at least three colleges or universities: A full course of study consists of 12 hours of instruction a week or its equivalent.
Other postsecondary academic programs: A full course of study consists of 18 hours of attendance a week when mainly classroom instruction is involved and 22 hours a week when mainly laboratory work is involved.
Remember that the school certifies on Form I-20 A-B that the alien is enrolled in a full course of study, so that issuance of the Form I-20 A-B should satisfy the consular officers and INS on this issue.

4. The alien must be proficient in English or be enrolled in English language courses leading to proficiency.

The school must certify to one of the following on Form I-20 A-B:

The student has satisfied the school of his or her proficiency in English, usually through the passing of an English language entrance examination, such as the TOEFL examination
The student will be enrolled in courses in a language in which the student is proficient
The student will be enrolled in a full course of study consisting of both academic courses and English instruction
The student is enrolled in a language training program constituting a full course of study
The school's certification on this issue is usually sufficient to establish a student's proficiency in English, although a consular officer can test the student regarding English language ability; such a test usually consists of conversing with the student in English or having the student read passages from a book or from the Form I-20 A-B in English.
5. The alien must have sufficient funds available to him or her to support him or herself completely during the entire proposed course of study.

This requirement is the one that causes denial of student visas to many aliens. The student must demonstrate that he or she has funds currently at his or her disposal for the coming academic year, and that, barring any unforeseen change in circumstances, adequate funds will be available in the same amount throughout the student's academic program.
Funds available to the student include financial aid and fellowships, personal funds and funds from his or her family, and from his or her government. Since money earned from fellowship, scholarship or assistantship grants, post-doctoral research programs, and work-study programs at schools that offer such programs as a regular part of their curriculum is not considered "salary" from employment, it can be counted as a part of the student's available resources.
No other anticipated earnings can be counted, however, because a student is expected to pay for his or her studies without resort to employment. Documenting the availability of financial resources sufficient to pay for the student's education without the need for him or her to resort to employment is one of the principal elements of proof in applying for a student visa.
6. The alien must maintain a residence abroad that he or she has no intention of abandoning and must intend to leave the U.S. upon completion of his or her studies.

The "bona fide nonimmigrant intent" of the prospective student is undoubtedly the most closely scrutinized element of the process for obtaining a student visa to enter the U.S. Many consular officers frankly hold the belief that many prospective students seek to enter the United States to either immediately or ultimately engage in employment here and seek permanent residence.
As a recent example, consular officers in some Asian countries have denied visas to students below the college level because the difficulty in reentering the rigid examination system in those countries has led the officers to assume that the students intend to sever ties with their home country. Particularly in countries with a high rate of visa refusals and overstays will this issue be closely investigated before a visa is issued.
Even in many Western European countries with low rates of visa refusals the process of establishing bona fide nonimmigrant intent can be difficult.
Accessed on Westlaw in June 2003 from Immigration Procedures Handbook-
Austin T. Fragomen, Jr., Alfred J. Del Rey, Jr., and Steven C. Bell