{"id":23,"date":"2016-06-08T13:37:07","date_gmt":"2016-06-08T18:37:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/?page_id=23"},"modified":"2023-08-16T14:56:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-16T19:56:19","slug":"maintaining-your-immigration-status","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/maintaining-your-immigration-status\/","title":{"rendered":"Maintaining Your Immigration Status"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-modular-content-collection><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An F-1 student should maintain a valid passport at all times. Passport should be valid for at least six months into the future. Federal law does not allow a F-1 visa holder to enter the United States or to be employed in the United States if the passport is expired. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Students should contact their consulate in the U.S. for passport renewal information. Here are addresses and telephone numbers for<a href=\"http:\/\/www.state.gov\/s\/cpr\/rls\/fco\/\">\u00a0foreign consulates in the U.S<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International students and exchange visitors should understand the importance of maintaining their status while in the U.S. Failing to maintain status could result in serious consequences and may affect the ability to remain in or return to the United States. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">St. Olaf College expects its students to pursue their studies full-time, attend their registered courses, and make satisfactory academic progress. Although not exhaustive, students are responsible for the following in order to maintain status:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">See the PDSO at the beginning of each semester to register in SEVIS.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Maintain a full class load (minimum 3.0 St. Olaf course credits) at all times, attending and making progress toward completing the courses.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consult with the PDSO before travel outside the U.S. or change in enrollment status.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact the PDSO before (but no later than 10 days after) change in major(s), address, withdrawal from St. Olaf, transfer to another school, extend or shorten the program of study, or experience significant changes in financial status.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Abstain from any unauthorized on or off-campus employment.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adhere to all U.S. laws while in the U.S. (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Consult <a href=\"lamont3@stolaf.edu\">Caitlin Lamont Kreienkamp<\/a> for information<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0on the latest regulations and procedures).<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Immigration regulations require that all F-1 students register for and complete a full course of study every term. If you wish to enroll for less than a full course of study, you must have approval from the PDSO before the semester begins. If you take less than a full course of study without approval from the PDSO, you will lose your F-1 status.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Credit Requirements\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>3 credit<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> minimum per semester + completion of 3 Interims &lt;&#8211;First-year Interim is MANDATORY<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Summer Session Enrollment:<\/b>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Continuing students are not required to enroll during summer, and there is no full course of study minimum for the summer session.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Students admitted to begin a program in the summer MUST enroll full-time during the summer of admission.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Online and Distance Learning (ODL)<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> courses are limited for F-1 students. Students with F-1 status may count a maximum of 1 ODL course per semester toward their full course requirement, and the ODL course must be taken in conjunction with at least one other in-person course to remain in status (ie. F-1 students cannot register only for an ODL course).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Audited courses<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> do NOT count toward your full course of study requirement, as they are not credit bearing.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International students are expected to complete all courses, including those taken online, during the semester for which they are registered. Extended-term courses and incomplete courses <\/span><b>do not count<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> toward the full course of study credit minimum in any semester other than the one in which you registered for it, as indicated by your transcript.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<p id=\"Violate Legal Status\"><strong>Violation of Legal Status\/SEVIS Termination<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Violation of F-1 visa regulations results in the loss of legal status in the U.S. Consequences include, but are not limited to:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/employment-on-campus\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ineligible to work <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on-campus<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/off-campus-employment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ineligible to apply for or pursue <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPT\/OPT<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/transfer\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ineligible to receive a <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transfer Recommendation<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to attend a new school<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ineligible to apply to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for a change of visa status<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Regaining F-1 Legal Status\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important that students discuss legal status issues with the PDSO. There are two ways in which a student may be able to regain legal F-1 status:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reinstatement of Legal Status Application to DHS<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Re-entry into the U.S. with a new \u201cinitial admit\u201d I-20<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Students who are Reinstated by DHS or who re-enter with an \u201cinitial admit\u201d I-20, will be required to enroll as a full-time student for at least one academic year before becoming eligible to apply for off-campus work (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/off-campus-employment\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CPT\/OPT<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>DHS Declaration of Unlawful Presence<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If a DHS official or an immigration judge declares an individual to be unlawfully present in the United States as a result of the Visa Overstay, the unlawful presence will begin on the date of the DHS decision \u2013 not necessarily the date the individual violated his\/her status.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Unlawful presence will have an effect on future eligibility for entry into the United States:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individuals who have been unlawfully present in the U.S. for more than 180 continuous days but less than one year are barred from admission to the U.S. (under any visa type) for a period of 3 years from the date of departure.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Individuals who have been unlawfully present in the U.S. for one year or longer are barred from admission to the U.S. (under any visa type) for a period of 10 years.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An F-1 student should maintain a valid passport at all times. Passport should be valid for at least six months into the future. Federal law does not allow a F-1 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":126,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-23","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/126"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":372,"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23\/revisions\/372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.stolaf.edu\/international-student-immigration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}