Visa Application Procedures for International Students

If you are accepted, we will send you an I-20 form. You will need this form to apply for a student Visa (F-1 status).

Go to the American embassy or consulate in your country. You need to bring:

• I-20 form
• Valid passport
• Financial documents
• Letter of admission from school

Complete a Visa application at the embassy or consulate. Every American embassy/consulate works from the same set of regulations and laws. The steps they take may be different. After you complete the Visa application, you may:

• Have a person-to-person interview with embassy/consulate staff
• Be given an appointment for an interview
• Be given an appointment and asked to bring additional information
• Have your Visa approval process conducted by mail

If your Visa is approved, you are given an F-1 Visa stamp in your passport. You may also have a new type of American Visa. This is a paper stamp glued to a page in the passport that can be read by a machine. Either Visa is valid. The Visa stamp indicates:

• Where the Visa was issued
• The date the Visa was issued
• The date the Visa will expire
• The number of entries
• The type of Visa
• The Visa number

When you receive your passport with the Visa, you are given a sealed envelope. The envelope has both pages of the I-20.

On the flight to the United States, you must complete an I-94 form. This form has three sections:

• Instructions
• Arrival record card
• Departure record card

At the port-of-entry, give the immigration officer the following:

• Valid passport with Visa
• Sealed envelope with I-20 form
• Completed I-94
• Any other requested information

The immigration officer will:

• Put an INS entry stamp in your passport
• Put an entry stamp on departure record card and staple it to the passport
• Separate the I-20 form. INS will keep the first page for immigration records. Pages three and four are given an INS entry stamp and returned to you.
• Return any other requested information

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