topthisdeal

Hi,

I'm currently in the U.S. as a visitor and have been accepted into a university for undergrad studies. My current I-94 says Sept.28. The date on my I-20 will probably be somewhere around Nov 30. My question is this:

I realize I do not have enough time between my I-20 and I-94 arrival date, but I was in the U.S. from June 1st to Aug23. The I left to go home for one month and now I'm back.

Will the fact that I was in the U.S. for about 3 months before leaving for one month help me at all when applying for a change of visa status?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Sameer

Sylvia Ottemoeller

topthisdeal wrote:

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No. The period which will be scrutinized is the period between your most recent entry
and the first step that you took toward obtaining admission to the school.

You can probably file the I-539 (assuming you entered the U.S. in B-2 status, and not
WT status) without a lot of risk of negative consequences. It will take awhile to be
adjudicated. If it is denied, then you will have to leave the U.S. and try to get an
F-1 visa stamp and re-enter in F-1 status.

If it takes long enough, you can make a trip outside the U.S., get a visa stamp,
re-enter, and then withdraw the I-539 before INS gets around to denying it.

I'm also assuming that you have pretty good evidence of permanent ties to your
home country.