 Capstone English Mastery Center Portland Oregon USA Since 1929 (503) 228-6346 |
Attending School on a B-1, B-2 and J-1 Visa
- The form used for this is Form I-539. You can get it HERE.
- USCIS publishes Special Instructions for B-1/B-2 Visitors Who Want to Enroll in School you can get that HERE.
- Usually it is from a B-2 Visitor's visa to an F-1 Student visa.
- You must understand the limits that come with changing your status. You are only changing your status.
- If you are granted F-1 status, that does not give you a student visa, which you can only get outside the U.S.
- If you are granted F-1 status, you will have all the rights and responsibilities of any other F-1 student. You may stay in the U.S. as long as you fulfill the requirements of being a full-time student.
- You may not leave the U.S. and return because you will not have a student visa that permits entrance to the U.S.
- If changing status is the easiest or least expensive method of becoming an F-1 student, it might be the best solution for some visitors.
- US Courts have found that enrolling in school or applying for a change in status only a short time after entry to the United States may
demonstrate a preconceived intent to be a student. This means that an individual did not, in fact, truthfully enter the country as a visitor.
- If USCIS believe this to be the case, an application to change status will be denied.
- To protect against this happening, even if you change you mind shortly after entering the U.S., do not enroll in a school or apply to change status too quickly after entering the U.S.
- At most, enroll in school part-time.
- Delay any application to change status until a few weeks before the visitor's visa expires.
- If the USCIS believes that your intention to study arose after entry in B-2 status, it will usually approve a change from B-2 to F-1.
- If USCIS has any doubt, they will request further evidence, from you and/or from the school.
- Generally this will include:
- Dates you first contacted the school,
- Dates you applied to the school, and were accepted to the school.
- If you enter the United States in B-2 status, and have
- already applied to schools -or-
- are carrying school records with you,
- Then applying for a status change (shortly after entry) your request will generally be denied. You will not be granted a change to F-1 status.
- If you think there is any chance you might want to attend school in the U.S. then when you apply for a Visitor's visa you should request a "prospective student" endorsement.
- This will be noted directly on your visa.
- Then if you do apply for a change in status, there is less chance that USCIS might deny your request.
- There are many reasons for requesting a "prospective student" endorsement. The most obvious is that locating the best school from thousands of miles away can be difficult; "prospective student" visitors can visit different schools to find the one that best meets his/her needs and interests.
- Sometimes clerical positions in U.S. embassies and consulates are held by citizens of the host country. There may be cultural or political obstacles that make it difficult to get a student visa.
- By requesting a Visitor's visa (with a "prospective student" endorsement) you might deal with different staff members with less reason to act prejudicially.
The official United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) policy is that the B-2 category is not appropriate for full-time study.
B-2 visitors are however, permitted to enroll in a language program of under 18 hours of course work per week.
Many visitors come to the United States every year and sometimes their needs and goals change. People already in the U.S. on a B-2 Visitor's visa, sometimes decide they would like to attend school while they are here.
USCIS prefers that you return home and apply for the new status before re-entering the U.S. However that is often expensive, time-consuming, or even dangerous to do. So USCIS makes it possible to apply for a change of status while you remain in the U.S.
At Capstone, we often have applicants who wish to submit an I-539 application to change status.
Be careful. In practice, USCIS is very busy, so minor infractions might be overlooked, but there is no way to know how an individual USCIS official might treat a specific case. Applications to change from B-2 status to F-1 status are given special attention by USCIS.
There are several things you should know to minimize the risk of your application being denied:
If you have a "prospective student" endorsement (or annotation) on your B-2 visa, you should routinely be able to change to F-1 status.
Capstone recommends that prospective B-2 visitors to the U.S. who have any thought that they might like to attend school here request a "prospective student" annotation at the time they apply for their Visitor's visa.