Many B-1 and B-2 nonimmigrant visa holders may wish to change their status to F-1 student status. Holders of other nonimmigrant visas, such as J-2 exchange visitors, H-1B nonimmigrant visa holders (and spouses – H4 visas) may also want to switch. The desire to change has become more prevalent due to the COVID-19 healthcare crisis.
B-1 visas are temporary business visitor visas which, according to the USCIS, give the B-1 visa holder the right to participate in “business activities of a commercial or professional nature in the United States, including.” Examples of why people seek a B-1 visa are:
B-2 visas are used by foreigners who just want to travel. They can also be used for medical treatments and for some education reasons, according to Visa Guide World. Examples of why people seek a B-2 visa include:
There is no current cap on the number of B-2 visas that can be issued.
As hard as it can be to obtain US approval to enter the United States, there are challenges in returning to foreign countries during the pandemic. Some countries have denied reentry from America. Many B-1 and B-2 visa holders are concerned that long flights or long navigations may expose them to the disease.
There are three types of F visas:
F-1 students may apply at the schools of study through Form I-20 – to obtain an F-1 visa
According to the USCIS, people who hold a B-1 or B-2 visa cannot enroll in school unless they first acquire F-1 status. F-1 status is for academic students. M-2 status is for vocational students. Holders of other visas may be able to enroll in course of a study, depending on the type of visa. For example, holders of E status visas can enroll in school – provided the enrollment doesn’t interfere with the ability to keep their E status.
If you hold a visa that does not permit you to enroll in a class and you enroll in class anyway – your visa status will be in jeopardy. These visas holders will not be able to extend their status. Nor will they be able to change their status to F-1 or F-2 status.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) agency has specific requirements for changing your nonimmigrant status.:
You should review your change request with experienced immigration and non-immigration lawyer who:
If you are seeking a change in status to F or M visa status, don’t assume the request has been approved. Approval requires the following steps:
According to the Student Life International Center at the University of Michigan, you also need to include in your application:
Make a full copy of your entire application and supporting documents.
Don’t enroll in a course of study until your authorization is clear based on your current visa status or your approval of F or M student status.
You must keep a valid nonimmigrant status – while your Form I-539 request is pending. Enrollment in class or course of study can make your current nonimmigrant status (such as B-1 or B-2) invalid.
The timing for making the switch and enrolling in a class is very complex. Work with an experienced immigration lawyer who can guide you through the change in the status process, the timelines, and answer all your questions.
If you are an M-1 student, you can’t change to an F status while you are in the United States.”
Applicants for an F or M student status from a B-1 or B-2 status often have difficulty obtaining the approval to switch because of a unique requirement. The USCIS can approve the switch – up to 30 days before the course of study begins. This 30-day rule is based on 8 CFR § 214.2(f)(5)(i), which provides that “[a]n F-1 student may be admitted for a period up to 30 days before the indicated report date or program start date listed on Form I-20.”
If, according to the USCIS, “your current nonimmigrant status will expire more than 30 days before your F-1 or M-1 program start date and you wish to remain in the United States until your start date – you must find a way to obtain status all the way up to the date that is 30 days before your program start date (“bridge the gap”).
Bridging the gap involves filing a Form I-539 so you can request an extension of your current nonimmigrant visa (such as the B-1 or B-2 visas) in addition to the other Form I-539 application to change to student status. If you don’t file the extension request, your Form I-539 request to change to F-1 or M-1 status will be denied.
The bridge requests are complicated because it can take a while for the extension to be approved. You may need to file multiple extension requests.
According to the Maryland State Bar Association, due to the lengthy processing times for the separate Form I-539 requests, “your F-1 or M-1 program start date may be deferred to the following academic term or semester because USCIS did not make a decision on your Form I-539 change of status application before your originally intended F-1 or M-1 program start date.” This means you’ll need to obtain extensions – “up to the date which is 30 days before your new program start date.” You’ll need to pay separate filing fees for each Form I-539 request.
There’s a major complication though in seeking the extension of your B-1/B-2 visas so you can seek the change in status. One you seek to change your status to F-1 (through Form I-539) – if the application isn’t approved within 60 days from the requested start date in SEVIS – it will be canceled unless – the Designated School Official (DSO) manually defers the date of admission to either:
According to the Maryland State Bar Association, “on April 5, 2017, USCIS issued a new policy requiring that the applicants in B-2 status extend their status to cover any “gap” between the expiration of their previous B-2 status and the program start date.” “On February 6, 2018, USCIS revised its instructions to include applications filed by applicants in all other initial nonimmigrant statuses.”
USCIS applicants need to find a way to bridge the gap from the end of their current visa status up to 30 days before the “deferred” program start date.
Generally, B-2 applicants can file for an extension of their status through a second I-539 Form request. The extension request can only be for up to six months. Given that the F-1 request may take up to a year or more, several B-2 extension requests may need to be made – in order to fully bridge the gap. Essentially, USCIS is now making it as difficult as possible to request a change of nonimmigrant status to F-1.
Yes. According to the USCIS:
You can leave the US and then apply for an F-1 nonimmigrant visa through a US embassy or consulate. You’ll need to:
Call Herman Legal Group at +1-216-696-6170 or complete our contact form to speak with us about helping you prepare and file your I-20 and I-539 change to F-1 nonimmigrant visa status.
Some immigrants can change their nonimmigrant status to F-1 status, if approved by the USCIS. Others can’t. Generally, according to the USCIS, you can apply for a change in nonimmigrant status from one visa classification to another if:
There is no requirement to change “your nonimmigrant status if you wish to attend school in the United States, and you are the spouse or child of someone who is lawfully admitted to the United States in any of the following nonimmigrant visa categories;”
Anyone who was admitted into the US through one of the following nonimmigrant visas or programs cannot apply to change their nonimmigrant status:
If you have a vocational student (M-1), you may not apply to change your status to a(n):
If you are an international exchange visitor (J-1), you may not change your nonimmigrant status if:
“If you do not receive a waiver, you may only apply to change to a diplomatic and other government official (A visa) or representatives to international organizations (G visa)”
If your status is of a type that allows full-time studies in America, you may start classes before your change of status application is approved. Your rights to any type of employment, such as an assistantship, may be denied, however, until after your F-1 status is approved.
The ability to transfer your status is generally governed by federal statute – 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(b)(7). This statute provides, specifically, that if you a B-1 or B-2 status, you are prohibited from entering into a course of study in the United States. You must seek to change your status to F-1 status (academic status) or M-1 (vocational student status).
You can start a school program if you have E status – provided the schooling doesn’t interfere with your E status. E status is a nonimmigrant visa status for treaty traders and investors.
If you start a school program while you have B-1 or B-2 status, you will be considered to be in violation of your nonimmigrant status which means:
If you seek a change of status to F-1 from within the US, you will not receive an F-1 travel visa, only F-1 status. If you leave America, you will need to apply for an F-1 visa at a U.S. consulate in order to be able to return to the U.S.
Call Herman Legal Group at +1-216-696-6170 or fill out our contact form to talk with us about helping you determine your eligibility to change your status to F-1 or M-1 status.
By the time his term of office ends on January 20, 2021, Donald Trump will have reduced immigration to the United States by more than half. He has managed to accomplish all of this through executive order and regulatory changes, without any change in statutory law — and therefore no need for cooperation from Congress.
The timing of this decrease in immigration makes it obvious that nowhere near all of it can be attributed to the COVID-19 crisis.
The administration has erected so many walls against immigration, both literally and figuratively, that it would be impossible to list them all succinctly. All told, Trump issued more than 400 executive orders and actions, each of them with significant impact. Some of the highlights (or, perhaps better put, lowlights) are listed below.
The Trump legacy begins at the US border. Some of the administration’s more objectionable policies include:
Asylum claims have been rapidly increasing since before Trump took office. The Trump legacy, however, includes:
All told, these measures eliminate asylum as an option for most of those who seek it.
The Trump years have also been dismal for refugees:
Trump’s immigration initiatives did not stop at the border. Despite the Obama administration’s prioritizing of the apprehension of undocumented aliens with criminal records, Trump issued an executive order targeting all undocumented undocumented immigrants, even those not suspected of criminal activity. As a consequence, 36 percent of the undocumented immigrants arrested had no prior criminal record, compared to 14 percent in 2016.
Other actions taken by the Trump administration include:
The Obama administration offered forbearance to undocumented immigrants who arrived in the US as children. The Trump administration has offered them little more than hostility by canceling DACA protections, thereby putting immigrants who arrived in the US as children in danger of deportation.
This hostility has affected up to 500,000 undocumented immigrants. Even after the courts thwarted this policy, the Trump administration instituted a policy of denying all first-time applications and granting renewals for only one year at a time.
The Trump administration has strengthened the “public charge rule”, making it much easier to deny immigration benefits, including permanent residence, to an applicant based on poverty or use of public benefits. The new rules are so onerous that the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) estimates that nearly 70 percent of green card applicants are now at risk of denial on public charge grounds alone.
In addition to the foregoing innovation, the Trump administration has also ramped up enforcement of financial support commitments made by US sponsors of immigrants.
The Trump administration has initiated several unprecedented policies that make it more difficult for international students to study in the United States, including:
The USCIS and the Department of Labor have increased their scrutiny of nonimmigrant applications for employment-based visas, including both the H-1B and the L-1, among others. Denials of H-1B nonimmigrant visa applications, for example, have more than doubled.
The Trump administration has also narrowed the scope of eligibility for the visa. Entry-level computer programmers, for example, normally do not qualify for H-1B status any longer.
Other hostile measures include:
The Trump administration’s hostility towards employment-based immigrant visa applicants (many of whom are highly qualified) is reflected in recent policy adjustments:
It is worth repeating that the above-described hostile immigration policies are just the tip of the iceberg, and that all of this was accomplished without Congressional approval. The new Biden administration can reverse some of the policies with the stroke of a pen — but others will take considerably longer to implement.
CLEVELAND (HEADQUARTER)
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