BrokeForTheNextDecade

Thank you so much! Do give an update after your appointment!

Oh that's interesting! What was the reason you gave you for wanting an the expedited appointment? I emailed them yesterday requesting for an expedited appointment stating my current appointment is a month after my start date as the reason and they responded saying : "Thank you for your request regarding an earlier appointment date. Please be informed that the U.S. Embassy has suspended routine visa services; however, we are working with the Department of State to get permission to accommodate students. At this time, your student appointment has been postponed due to existing restrictions. We appreciate your understanding during this challenging time. We are taking this step to prevent or reduce the spread of COVID-19. " I'm assuming this is a rejection ..

@darkclouds Do you mind telling us which country's embassy you got your visa processed at?

I'm also trying to get my visa in Dubai and I've tried it expediting it here. They rejected the request saying due to Covid19, they are only expediting visas due to medical emergencies. We have to wait until they announce they are resuming issuing students visas, at which time they will prioritize our appointments (I assume that means we can expedite it then).

Actually, official ICE release states that "Nonimmigrant F-1 students attending schools adopting a hybrid model—that is, a mixture of online and in person classes—will be allowed to take more than one class or three credit hours online. These schools must certify to SEVP, through the Form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status,” certifying that the program is not entirely online, that the student is not taking an entirely online course load this semester, and that the student is taking the minimum number of online classes required to make normal progress in their degree program." So my understanding is that as long as their whole course load isn't online, students can take more than one online course, but only ones that don't have an in-person option.