When an applicant applies to change their nonimmigrant status to that of F-1 International Student, they must maintain nonimmigrant status until 30 days prior to the start of their educational program. Since many programs have various start dates and the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) could not coordinate the approval of the Change of Status (COS) with the start date, many applicants had to apply for subsequent extensions to ensure their status did not lapse, to “bridge the gap,” prior to the 30 days before their COS application was approved.
On July 20, 2021, USCIS announced a policy update in hopes of alleviating the need for applying for extensions. This consists of three components:
- The effective start date for the new F-1 status will be the day USCIS approves the COS application, whether or not it is 30 days prior to the start of their program.
- As long as an applicant submits the COS application for F-1 status prior to their previous status expiring, they would not have to apply for extensions of their status, while their COS application is pending.
- If the F-1 status is approved more than 30 days before the beginning of their program, the applicant must make sure that they do not violate their new F-1 status during that time.
If you have any questions regarding changing your status from one nonimmigrant status to another or any other immigration related matter, please do not hesitate to contact KILO Immigration, a Sacramento immigration law firm by filling out this contact form.