As the start of the fall school year approaches, many intending students are applying for the appropriate visa to pursue their study in the States. Carolyne is scheduled for her visa interview in a couple of weeks. She was accepted in for an undergraduate study in Iowa but is anxious about his coming interview. She heard from her friend who was denied the student visa. What are the criteria for an applicant for student to successfully obtain the student visa to study abroad?
Where to Start
A prospective student may begin the process of obtaining the visa by first applying to a school abroad. The applicant must determine whether the school will issue the Form I-20 Certificate of Eligibility. This form certifies the admission of the student to a program of study and establishes eligibility for a student visa including financial ability to complete the course of study.
With the I-20 the applicant must then apply at the US Embassy consular section for the F1 visa before he or she may enter the United States.
Bonafide Student
Academic students are those seeking to enter the United States temporarily for the purpose of pursuing a full course of study at an established college, university or other academic institution. The visa for academic students is the “F1” nonimmigrant visa.
One of the many requirements of this visa is that the applicant must have a residence in a foreign country which he has no intention of abandoning. This means that students must have no aspirations of immigrating to the United States after their study. For this reason, consular officers ask rigorous questioning on the applicant’s long term educational and career goals, the extend of their ties to the home country, their sources of financial support and the ways they will apply the US education once they returned to the home country.
Rigorous questioning about student’s actual intent was addressed in a Department of State (DOS) cable. According to this DOS document, the alien plans on studying a subject for which there is no or little employment opportunity in his country of resident is not a basis for denying the visa. Consular officers are instructed to focus on the student applicant’s immediate intent instead of focusing primarily on his ties or long term goals. This directive makes sense considering that students are generally young and are just starting their careers. Some do not have plans except to obtain education from a US school to broaden their opportunities in the future.
It is not enough that a university or college in the US accepted the applicant to enroll in their institution. The burden of the applicant for student visa is to show that he does not have the dual intent of migrating to the US after studying. Failure to show that “student intent” only is the common ground for refusal of the visa.
Financial Support
Applicants for the student visas must have sufficient support either from their own funds or from other persons who have the legal obligation to support the student. Sufficient finances to cover expenses means availability of funds not mere possession. The co-sponsor who claims to support the prospective student must have present resources and a legal obligation to support. The requirement of financial support is to prevent the student visa holder from resorting to unauthorized US employment to maintain solvency while studying.
Employment opportunities while in school as a foreign student are limited. Some are incident to status or authorized by the designated school official. Those that are authorized employment are (1)on campus employment; (2)curricular practical training and (3) optional practical training related to the student’s major are of study. Off campus employment are based on severe economic hardship due to “unforeseen circumstances beyond the student’s control.
Coming in as a Tourist
The purpose for the issuance of a B1/B2 visa is for the individual to enter the US on a temporary visit or business. In the exercise of discretion, the US Citizenship and Immigration Service may still deny a change of status from tourist to student visa if it appears that the person entered the US on a tourist visa with a “preconceived” intent to attend school.
Changes of status to student visa are often viewed as circumventing the normal visa issuing process and are oftentimes denied. Unlike other denials, for those denied student visas the order for the student to depart is issued quickly or removal proceedings are initiated at a very short period of time prior to denial. For this reason, it may be an impractical option to enter as a visitor with the hope of changing the status to that of a student.
A Key Element in Foreign Relations
Incoming international students in the US have increased despite the global recession. It is a fact that the US still remains the favorite destination for international study. Interestingly, for outbound US citizen students wanting to study abroad the number had declined. Considering the growing trend of global education,applicants for student visas should increase their chance of obtaining the visas by meeting the eligibility requirements. The consular officers are expected to exercise just discretion in adjudicating student visas and based their grant or denial firmly in law and regulation. For after all, enrollment of foreign students remains a key element in US foreign relations.
(Tancinco may be reached at law@tancinco.com or at 887 7177).
