Before you can come
to the United States as a student, you
must be accepted to a school and prove
that you have sufficient financial resources
(scholarships, loans, family or personal
resources) to pay your school and living
expenses. For information on sources
of financial aid, on applying to schools,
and on organizations in your country
that can assist you, see the area of
our website called Study in the U.S.
There are two nonimmigrant visa categories
for persons wishing to study in the
United States (a nonimmigrant is someone
admitted to the U.S. temporarily):
"F" visa includes academic
students in colleges, universities,
seminaries, conservatories, academic
high schools, other academic institutions,
and in language training.
"M" visa is for people wishing
to pursue nonacademic or vocational
studies.
Am I Eligible?
To be eligible to apply for
the F or M visas, you must intend to
stay for a temporary period of time
and have proof of compelling ties (social,
family, economic, professional or other)
to a residence outside the United States
to which you will return after the visit.
You must also meet the following criteria:
Scholastic Preparation
You must have successfully
completed a course of study normally
required for enrollment. Unless you
are coming to participate exclusively
in an English language training program,
you must either be sufficiently proficient
in English to pursue the intended course
of study, or the school must have made
special arrangements for English language
courses or teach the course in your
native language.
Financial Resources
You must prove that sufficient funds
are, or will be, available from an identified
and reliable financial source to defray
all living and school expenses during
the period of your study in the U.S.
Specifically, you must prove that you
have enough readily available funds
to meet all expenses for the first year
of study, and that adequate funds will
be available for each subsequent year
of study. If you are applying for an
M-1 visa, you must have evidence that
sufficient funds are immediately available
to pay all tuition and living costs
for the entire period of your intended
stay.
Acceptance
You must be accepted as a full-time
student in a U.S. academic educational
program, language-training program,
or vocational program. The school must
be approved by the Immigration and Naturalization
Service (INS), and the school must send
you a Form I-20 (which it receives from
the INS).
