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Maintaining Status

When you first arrive at NGCSU, you must report to the International Student Services Office, 205-C Hoag Student Center, with your passport, your I-94, your I-20, and your local address. The ISSO cannot register you in SEVIS until you have done so, and failure to report in timely fashion will cause you to fall out of status.

To maintain your F-1 status, you must be careful to

• carry a full load each Fall and Spring semester. For undergraduates, this means that you must not drop below 12 credit hours in Fall semester or Spring semester (9 hours for graduates). You may take a reduced load or no courses at all during Summer semester if that is not your first semester.
• make normal progress toward a degree.
• not work without authorization.
• notify the ISSO of any change in your major.
• notify the ISSO of any change in your address, within 10 days of the move. You will also want to change your address in Banner, with the Payroll Office, with the U.S. Postal Service, and with your creditors, memberships, and affiliations.
• keep your passport current -- renew it before it expires. Your visa, on the other hand, may be allowed to expire while you are in the U.S. It is a document used for entry only.
• complete your academic program before your program end date. If you find that you will need an additional semester, it is essential that you work with the ISSO before your I-20 end date to get that date extended. A letter from your academic advisor is required, indicating the new program end date and the circumstances requiring the extension.
• transfer schools only with permission from the foreign student advisor. Your SEVIS record will be transferred with you from one school to another, even when you change degree levels.
• within 60 days after program completion date, begin OPT, transfer to a new school, or leave the United States. You have 5 months from the end of OPT or program completion to begin a new program.

You will fall out of status if you work without permission, work more than 20 hours per week when school is in session, or drop below a full academic course load during a semester. A student who has fallen out of status is not eligible to work or to transfer to another institution.

Reinstatement

To regain F-1 student status and become eligible once again for F-1 student benefits, a student has two alternatives.

First, one may apply for reinstatement, within 5 months of the offense that caused the loss of status. There is a fee associated with the application for reinstatement, and there are risks. If reinstatement is not granted, the student is expected to leave the U.S. immediately.

Another alternative is to travel and re-enter the U.S. The student must provide to NGCSU proof of adequate financial resources and obtain a new initial-attendance I-20, with a new SEVIS number. The student will take these documents outside the U.S. and re-enter on the new I-20.

It is important to note that a visa may be required to enter a third country such as Canada or Mexico, and if the student's F-1 visa has expired, he or she will have to pay the SEVIS fee and obtain a new F-1 visa while outside the U.S. in order to apply for admission at a U.S. port of entry. The visa cannot be renewed from within the U.S.