Student Visa Info

A teenage Asian girl with a valid student visa was handcuffed and deported to enter into United States five days earlier than stipulated, highlighting strict American immigration policy.

A 79-year-old British historian, who came to work at the US Library of Congress on the life of US former chief diplomat Henry Kissinger, was herded on arrival in a wheelchair at Washington’s Dulles airport to a small room facing a administrator with a revolver in his hip for no evident mistake.

Although all his travel papers were in order, “I was stopped and treated rather disgracefully,” lamented Sir Alistair Horne at a conference in Washington on Tuesday.

Stringent enforcement of US visa policy and seemingly overzealous immigration officers following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks are not only scaring away foreign students and tourists but dampening the venture climate of the world’s richest nation and taking a toll on its economy, experts told the conference organized by the Center for calculated and International Studies.

Among the other cases cited to highlight the economic, security, scientific and diplomatic implications of changes in US visa policy were:

– An international business conference in Hawaii had to be shifted to Hong Kong at the last minute because the organizers could not obtain travel papers for most of its participants, who were from China.

– Some of US aviation giant Lockheed Martin Corporation’s testing of its civil space actions have been delayed because visas could not be obtained on time for Russian scientists.

As part of the visa application process, an interview at the embassy consular section is required for visa applicants from age 14 through 79. Persons age 13 and younger, and age 80 and older, generally do not require an interview, unless requested by embassy or consulate. The waiting time for an interview appointment for applicants can vary, so early visa application is strongly encouraged It is important to remember that applying early and providing the requested documents does not guarantee that the student will receive a visa. Visa wait times for interview appointments and visa processing time information for each U.S. Embassy or Consulate worldwide is available on our website at Visa Wait times, and on most embassy websites. During the visa application process, usually at the interview, an ink-free, digital fingerprint scan will be quickly taken. Some applicants will need additional screening, and will be notified when they apply. Also, because each student’s personal and academic situation is different, two students applying for same visa may be asked different questions and be required to submit different documents. For that reason, the guidelines that follow are general and can be abridged or expanded by consular officers overseas, depending on each student’s situation.

All applicants for a student visa must provide:

• Form I-20A-B, Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status-For Academic and Language Students or Form I-20M-N, Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (M-1) Student Status for Vocational Students.You will need to submit a SEVIS generated Form, I-20, which was provided to you by your school.You and your school official must sign the I-20 form. All students, as well as their spouses and dependents must be registered in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an Internet-based system that maintains accurate and current information on non-immigrant students and exchange visitors and their dependents (F/M-2 visa holders). Your school is responsible for entering your information for the I-20 student visa form into SEVIS. Students will also have to pay an SEVIS I-901 fee for each program of study. Questions regarding your exchange program should be directly to your program sponsor;

The Immigration Act of 1990 significantly changed certain aspects of family sponsored immigration in the United States. Generally speaking, it increased the total number of visas available for some categories of close family members of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. This chapter will briefly discuss the various categories of family sponsored petitions for permanent residence, the I-130 Petition, and the evidence that is required to accompany the petition.

The Family Preference Categories

Just as employment based petitions may be filed in a variety of categories, so, too, are petitions based on family relationships divided into various categories. These include:

1. FIRST PREFERENCE: UNMARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS. This category refers to the adult children of U.S. citizens or those who have reached the age of 21 years prior to issuance of the immigrant visa.
2. SECOND PREFERENCE: SPOUSES, SONS AND DAUGHTER OF LAWFUL PERMANENT RESIDENTS;
3. THIRD PREFERENCE: MARRIED SONS AND DAUGHTER OF U.S. CITIZEN.
4. FOURTH PREFERENCE: BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF U.S. CITIZENS.

You may note that there is no preference category for spouses or unmarried minor children of American citizens. This is because there is no numerical limitation placed on the immigration of the spouses or unmarried minor children of American citizens. Immigrant visas are always immediately available to them, however, they too must be admissible to the U.S. before a permanent resident visa can be issued to them. the actual request for permanent resident status for an alien in one of the above-listed preference categories is made on Form I-130, “Petition for Alien Relative”. It must be filed with the INS Regional Service Center having jurisdiction over the place where the person filing the application (i.e. the petitioner) lives.

A U.S. citizen can file the petition on behalf of is/her:

1. husband, wife, or child under the age of 21;
2. an unmarried child over the age of 21;
3. married child of any age;
4. brother or sister if the U.S. citizen is at least 21 years old; or
5. a parent if the U.S. citizen is at least 21 years

A lawful permanent resident can file the petition on behalf of his/her:

1. husband or wife;
2. unmarried child.

I-130 Petitions for Alien Relatives cannot be filed on behalf of the following person:

1. An adoptive parent or adoptive child if the adoption took place after the child reached the age of 16, or if the child has not been in the legal and physical custody of the parents for a period a of at least two years;
2. A natural parent if the U.S. citizen gained permanent residence through adoption;
3. A stepchild or stepparent if the marriage that created the relationship took place after the child was 18 years of age;
4. A husband or wife if both were not physically present at the marriage ceremony, and the marriage was not consummated;
5. A husband or wife if the person filing the petition gained permanent resident status by virtue of a prior marriage to a U.S. citizen or permanent resident unless a period of five years has elapsed since the petitioner became a permanent resident, or the prior marriage was terminated by the death of the spouse, or he/she can establish by clear and convincing evidence that the prior marriage was not entered into to evade any provision of the immigration law.