F-1 / F-2 / F-3Academic student

What F-1 is

F-1 is the visa and status for full-time study at an academic institution or in a language training program. It lets you enter the United States as a full-time student at an SEVP-certified college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic high school, elementary school or other academic institution, or in a language training program. Your program must lead to a degree, diploma or certificate.^[6]

There are three F classes: F-1 is the student, F-2 is the student's spouse or child, and F-3 is a Canadian or Mexican national who commutes to school in the United States. Vocational and other non-academic programs (other than language training) use M-1 instead, and educational and cultural exchange programs use J-1.^[6,10,11]

Who qualifies

What you need to show to get an F-1 visa.

If you do not meet one or more of these requirements, the visa is refused under section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). The State Department tells consular officers that they should normally not go behind your Form I-20 or SEVIS record to reassess your qualifications for the school, though reason to believe you used fraud to get admitted is an important factor, and that they may not require admission test scores or a minimum grade point average.^[2]

From admission to arrival

1. 1

   1. School and Form I-20

   Only an SEVP-certified school can issue a Form I-20, and only to students it has accepted. The school's designated school official (DSO) signs it, certifying among other things that your application was reviewed and approved and that you can pay for the program. The electronic SEVIS record, not the paper form, is the definitive record of your status.^[2]

2. 2

   2. SEVIS fee and visa interview

   Pay the I-901 SEVIS fee at FMJFee.com before your visa interview, then apply at a U.S. embassy or consulate with your signed Form I-20. The State Department tells officers to issue F-1 visas only when your SEVIS record shows "initial" or "active" status. Your first F-1 visa is annotated with your SEVIS ID and the school you will first attend.^[2]

3. 3

   3. Arrival

   To arrive more than 30 days before the program start date on your I-20, you need a visa in a different classification. At the port of entry you must present the entire Form I-20, signed by you and the DSO. On a first entry, the officer can refuse admission if your I-20 is from a school other than the one named on your visa, or if you say you plan to attend a different school.^[2]

How long you can stay

◈High confidence A federal court has postponed a 2026 rule that would replace "duration of status" with fixed admission periods, and USCIS says it proceeds under the previous rules until the order is lifted. Under those rules, an F-1 student is usually admitted for duration of status: the time you are pursuing a full course of study and any authorized practical training, plus 60 days after you complete the course or the training to depart.^[2,3]This can change if the court lifts its order. Your DSO can tell you which rule applies when you enter or file.

Public schools are limited. F-1 visas cannot be issued for a public primary school (kindergarten through grade 8) or a publicly funded adult education program. F-1 study at a public high school is capped at 12 months in total, and you must first repay the school system the full, unsubsidized per-student cost. Any school-age student who otherwise qualifies may get an F-1 visa for a private school, kindergarten through grade 12.^[2]

Keeping your status

You must carry a full course of study. For undergraduates at a college or university, that generally means at least 12 semester or quarter hours per academic term, unless you need fewer to finish your program that term; for graduate study, it is what your DSO certifies as a full course. Only one class or three credits per term taken online or by distance education, without required physical attendance, counts toward a full course, and none counts in a language study program.^[2,4]

You must tell the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and your DSO about a legal name change or a change of address within 10 days, in the way your school prescribes. For an address change, notifying your DSO within 10 days satisfies the DHS requirement. The address must be where you actually live, not a mailing address, unless you cannot receive mail there.^[4]

Working while you study

On-campus jobs do not need a USCIS work permit. The work must be on the school's premises (including businesses there that serve students, such as the bookstore or cafeteria) or at an off-campus site educationally affiliated with the school through its curriculum or contract-funded postgraduate research, where the job must be an integral part of your educational program. It must not displace U.S. residents. The limit is 20 hours a week while school is in session; you may work full time when school is not in session or during the annual vacation. A new student may not start on-campus work more than 30 days before classes begin.^[4,5]

On-campus work generally stops when you complete your program. You may continue only as authorized practical training, or if the school has issued you a Form I-20 for a new program and you intend to enroll in its next regular academic year, term or session. During a school transfer, you may work on campus only at the school that holds your SEVIS record.^[4]

Curricular practical training (CPT) is work that is an integral part of your curriculum, such as alternative work/study, an internship, cooperative education or a required practicum offered through an agreement between the employer and your school. It generally requires one full academic year of full-time enrollment first, except in graduate programs that require immediate CPT. Your DSO authorizes it on your Form I-20, and you may start only after that endorsement; USCIS approval is not needed. One year or more of full-time CPT makes you ineligible for OPT after your studies.^[4,5]

If unforeseen circumstances beyond your control cause severe economic hardship, such as losing financial aid or on-campus work through no fault of your own, large currency swings, steep rises in tuition or living costs, or medical bills, you may ask your DSO to recommend off-campus work and then file Form I-765 with USCIS. You must have been in F-1 status for one full academic year, be in good standing with a full course of study, and show that the work will not interfere with your studies and that on-campus work is unavailable or not enough. You may start only after you receive the employment authorization document (EAD); the limit is 20 hours a week while school is in session, full time during holidays or vacation, USCIS grants it in one-year intervals, and a denial cannot be appealed.^[4,6]

OPT and STEM OPT

Optional practical training (OPT) is temporary employment directly related to your major. You can receive up to 12 months before finishing your studies (pre-completion), after (post-completion), or both, but pre-completion OPT is deducted from the post-completion time, part-time OPT at half rate. Pre-completion OPT needs one full academic year of full-time enrollment first and is limited to 20 hours a week while school is in session (full time when it is not); post-completion OPT must be at least 20 hours a week. You become eligible for another 12 months when you move to a higher educational level. Students in English language training programs cannot get practical training.^[4,13]

◈High confidence To apply, ask your DSO to recommend OPT; the DSO endorses your Form I-20 and enters the recommendation in SEVIS. Then file Form I-765 with USCIS, with the fee. For pre-completion OPT you may file up to 90 days before you complete a full academic year, as long as you do not start work until you complete it. For post-completion OPT, USCIS's current guidance is that you must file within 30 days after the DSO's SEVIS recommendation, and may file up to 90 days before your program end date but no later than 60 days after it. You may not start work until USCIS approves the I-765 and you receive your Employment Authorization Document (EAD).^[4,13,14]The regulation text now printed in the electronic Code of Federal Regulations, which already includes the postponed 2026 rule, says no later than 30 days after the program end date. USCIS's Form I-765 page, updated after the court order, lists 60 days. Ask your DSO which deadline applies before you rely on the later date.

If your degree is in a field on the STEM Designated Degree Program List for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), you can apply for a 24-month extension of post-completion OPT. You must be in a valid period of post-completion OPT, hold a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree from a school accredited by an agency the U.S. Department of Education recognizes and certified by SEVP, and work for an employer enrolled in the federal E-Verify system that completes the Form I-983 training plan with you. File Form I-765 up to 90 days before your current OPT EAD expires and within 60 days after your DSO's SEVIS recommendation. You can receive at most two STEM OPT extensions in your lifetime, the second based on a degree at a higher level.^[4,13,15]

During post-completion OPT, your F-1 status depends on employment. You may have no more than 90 days of unemployment in total during post-completion OPT, or 150 days in total if you receive the STEM extension. If you file for the STEM extension on time and your OPT expires while it is pending, your work authorization is automatically extended for up to 180 days, until USCIS decides. On STEM OPT you must report changes to your legal name, address, email, employer name or employer address to your DSO within 10 days and confirm your information every 6 months; your employer must report your termination or departure within 5 business days.^[4,15]

From F-1 to H-1B: the cap gap

If an employer files a cap-subject H-1B petition for you that requests a change of status, your F-1 status and any post-completion OPT or STEM OPT work authorization are automatically extended until April 1 of the fiscal year for which H-1B status is requested, or until the approved petition's start date, whichever is earlier. The petition must be timely filed, request an employment start date in that fiscal year and be nonfrivolous, and you must not have violated your status. The extension also covers your F-2 family. It ends if the petition is rejected, denied, revoked or withdrawn, or if the change-of-status request is denied or withdrawn, even if the petition is approved for consular processing.^[4]

F-2 spouse and children

Your spouse and minor children can come with you in F-2 status, or follow later if they show that you have been admitted and are enrolled (or will be within 30 days) in a full course of study, or are in approved practical training after your studies. Each F-2 needs their own Form I-20 from your school, but F-2 dependents do not pay a separate SEVIS fee. The consular officer must be satisfied that they have enough funds and intend to leave when your status ends.^[2,4,12]

F-2 family members may not work. An F-2 child may study full time at any elementary or secondary school (kindergarten through grade 12). An F-2 spouse or child may take less than a full course of study at an SEVP-certified school, and study that is avocational or recreational, even full time; to take a full course of study, they must first obtain a change to F-1, M-1 or J-1 status. Enrolling in any other study violates F-2 status.^[4]

F-3 border commuter students

F-3 is for Canadian and Mexican nationals who keep living in their home country and commute to a school within 75 miles of a U.S. land border, entering at a land border port of entry. They may study part time. The State Department currently processes them as F-1 students with a "border commuter" annotation on the visa. They may work only in curricular practical training or post-completion OPT, and their family members cannot get F-2 status.^[2,4]

Already in the U.S.? Changing to F-1

In general, you can apply to change to F-1 inside the United States if you were lawfully admitted as a nonimmigrant, your status is still valid, you have not violated it, and no crime or other act makes you ineligible. Get accepted by an SEVP-certified school and an initial Form I-20 that lists change of status as the reason, pay the I-901 SEVIS fee, and file Form I-539 with USCIS. Not every status may change to student status: USCIS lists C, D, K-1, K-2, S, TWOV, WT and WB (WT and WB are Visa Waiver Program tourists and business visitors) as categories that cannot extend or change status, an M-1 student cannot change to F status inside the United States, and the Form I-539 instructions cover the rest. You can instead leave, apply for an F-1 visa abroad and enter as a student.^[1,3,16]

If your current status does not allow study, do not start classes until USCIS approves the change. If USCIS has not decided at least 15 days before the program start date on your I-20, contact your DSO; you may need to defer to the next term. An approved change to F-1 takes effect on the approval date. You do not have to keep your old status all the way to 30 days before the program start date, as long as it was unexpired when you filed and you otherwise remain eligible. If approval comes more than 30 days before the program start date, do not work, including on-campus work and practical training, earlier than 30 days before that date.^[1]

Fees

Common mistakes

Recent policy changes

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