Student And Exchange Visitor Visas

 

 

If you're planning to study in the U.S., figure out which type of visa gives you the greatest opportunities and flexibility.

 

J-1, M-1, or F-1 Visa for U.S. Study: Which One Is Best for You?

        

    

Students coming to the U.S. may have a choice between three likely visas:

• the J-1 visa for exchange visitors (including scholars) participating full time in approved exchange programs
• the M-1 visa for full-time students in vocational programs, or
• the F-1 visa for full-time students in academic programs.

If you’ve got a choice, which visa might be best for you? Let’s look at some of the comparative advantages and disadvantages to these three visas.

Types of Program Covered

F-1 and M-1 visas offer the broadest coverage of school programs. One of these visas can likely be issued for almost any type of educational program imaginable.
The M-1 visa covers vocational training in things like cooking, mechanical or technical training, dance, music, photography, animation, and art and design. (For a casual course of under 18 hours a week that doesn’t lead to a degree, however, a B-2 tourist visa is more likely the appropriate one to use.)
The F-1 visa covers secondary and high school programs as well as all courses of study at colleges and universities.
J-1 programs, by contrast, are limited as to the level of education and types of subjects that can be studied – though they include both secondary and college or higher level education. For example, high school or college students may spend a semester or year in America on a J-1 visa, or a research scholar might come to a U.S. university on a visiting basis. Further examples can be found on the U.S. State Department’s list of “Designated Sponsor Organizations.”

Foreign Exchange Students

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I’m a student at a foreign university that will give me academic credit for an
internship. Can I do the internship in the United States?


Answer:

You can come to the U.S. as an exchange student if you have been accepted into a student internship program at the U.S. university and can meet certain other requirements.

You’ll need to be able to speak, read, and write English well enough to do the internship job. You can prove this in one of three ways: in an interview with the U.S. university that is sponsoring the internship program, by taking a test, or by showing a certificate from an academic institution or English-language school.

You must be in good academic standing at your home university, and you must intend to return there to get your degree after you’re finished with the student internship program. You must be coming to the U.S. to do the internship, not to take a regular job.

You must show that you have enough money to support yourself (and your family if you’re bringing them with you) for the entire time you’ll be in the United States. Also, you must have insurance that will pay for any sickness or accident during your internship.

Before getting permission to participate in the internship program, you’ll need to sign an internship placement plan form that describes the job and what you’re going to learn by doing it. If your internship program is in hospitality or tourism and will last six months or longer, the job must contain at least three departmental or functional rotations.

The internship work can’t be something you already know how to do – rather, it should expand upon your existing knowledge and skills. The job can’t be more than 20% clerical work. Everything you do on the job must be necessary for the completion of the student internship program. The university will evaluate your progress after six months and make a final evaluation shortly before the internship is done. You’ll need to sign the evaluation.

Your internship job can be paid or unpaid. You’ll be working full-time, which means at least 32 hours per week. You can’t stay in the job more than 12 months, but if you switch majors or degree programs at your home university, you can come back for another 12-month internship. You might be able to switch internship jobs during the year, but if you leave the internship program, you’ll have to leave the United States.

The visa you need is called a J-1. You start the process by getting the U.S. university sponsoring the internship program to issue you a Form DS-2019. With that form, you can apply for the J-1 visa at the U.S. consulate in your home country. The process for getting a J-1 visa as a university exchange student is explained in more detail in

Illegal

Green Card Denial?

                                          click image to submit your immigration question

If my citizenship is denied, will my green card be cancelled, too?

 

I’ve been a permanent resident for many years, and would like to finally apply for U.S. citizenship. However, a friend of mine told me about someone he knew who not only got denied citizenship, but got deported home afterward! Could this happen to me?

 

 

 

Answer:

In most cases, the reasons that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would deny a citizenship application have nothing to do with the person’s underlying eligibility for a green card, and thus would not result in deportation. If, for example, the person fails the English exam or the U.S. government and history exam; cannot show that he or she was continuously resident in the U.S. for the requisite number of years; applied too early; or is otherwise ineligible to advance from lawful permanent residence to citizenship, the usual result would be that USCIS simply denies the application and the person continues to be a lawful permanent resident.
(In fact, if the reason for not passing  the first interview is that the person did not pass the test of either English or the U.S. government and history, USCIS will give that person a second chance, and schedule a followup interview.

There are, however, exceptions. If the reason for denial is that USCIS discovers, during the review of the applicant’s immigration file, that the applicant did not qualify for a green card in the first place – for example, because he or she committed fraud in obtaining the green card – then USCIS could not only deny citizenship or place the person in removal proceedings. The same goes if USCIS discovers that the applicant spent so much time outside the U.S. that he or she appears to have abandoned U.S. residency altogether, or has committed a crime that results in the person becoming deportable from the United States. See an attorney if there’s any chance that any of these grounds for denial might apply to you, or if you have additional questions or concerns about your case.

can my parents and brothers immigrate to the U.S.?

 

 To submit your question click image..

 

I recently became a U.S. permanent resident.
My parents and my brothers (who are unmarried
and under age 21) would like to join me here.
Can I petition for them to get green cards?

 

Answer:

The immigration laws will not let you apply for a green card for your parents or brothers now. You need to become a U.S. citizen first. Depending on how you got your green card, your eligibility for U.S. citizenship is three to five years after you got your green card. (For more information, click image above)

 

After you become a citizen, your parents become your "immediate relatives," in immigration law lingo. When you file visa petitions for them and the petitions are approved, they'll be eligible to immigrate right away.

 

Your brothers won't be so lucky. When you become a citizen, you can file visa petitions for them, regardless of their age and whether or not they're married. But if the petitions are approved, they'll become "Fourth Preference" relatives and be put on a waiting list for a visa. The wait can be very long—in fact, brothers and sisters from the Philippines currently have the longest wait. The people getting their visas in early 2016 were waiting 23 years just to start the visa application process.

 

A tourist visa (B-2, visitor for pleasure), on the other hand, can be gotten in a few days. Being approved for one is not automatic—your family members will have to prove that they aren't trying to get into the U.S. permanently and that they can support themselves once they're here. (Once you become a citizen and file visa petitions for them, proving their intent to return will become harder, because they will already have indicated their interest in immigrating to the U.S. permanently.)

But once they've got the B-2 visa, it will probably be good for many trips to the United States. On each visit, they'll be allowed to stay for up to six months.
 
Just make sure they leave on time during every one of their visits—otherwise all manner of things could go wrong with their eventual hopes of immigrating.