Arriving on F-1, but attending different school

Closed Thread Subscribe

Thread Tools

Jan 30th 2009, 3:50 am

BenGrant

Forum Regular

Thread Starter

Joined: Dec 2007

Posts: 30

BenGrant is an unknown quantity at this point

Arriving on F-1, but attending different school

Can you arrive US POE in F-1 visa with a I-20 from a school A and then once you enter, decide to attend School B, whose I-20 you can soon get? Or must you study in school A for at least a semester before transferring? Will it matter that your visa has School A's name on it? How do you get the SEVIS info updated as it will still have your school A's I-20?

Is this same thing possible also when doing a Change of Status from B2 to F1 ? Once COS is approved, can you immediately decide to attend another school?

Jan 30th 2009, 1:05 pm

ian-mstm

Account Closed

Joined: Aug 2002

Location: Kentucky

Posts: 38,865

Re: Arriving on F-1, but attending different school

Quote:

Originally Posted by BenGrant

Can you arrive US POE in F-1 visa with a I-20 from a school A and then once you enter, decide to attend School B, whose I-20 you can soon get?

Probably, yes. But, since you've already asked the question, you can't now deny that the thought never crossed your mind... in which case, you can't just "suddenly decide" to attend school B. So, why not just do the right thing and wait until you get the I-20 from school B?

Quote:

How do you get the SEVIS info updated as it will still have your school A's I-20?

Your school will update SEVIS... so, once you're attending school B, it'll get done.

Quote:

Once COS is approved, can you immediately decide to attend another school?

Again, having now asked the question... You can say "immediately decide" but the truth would be somewhat different, wouldn't it? Be honest... you are already thinking about changing schools!

Ian