International graduate students and student visas

[statsday]

Hi all, 

The US embassies in most (if not all) countries are not scheduling interviews for incoming graduate students, and as you know one must do an interview to get an F1 visa. What will happen to these students? Do you think it's possible that the students will have to defer and that the cohorts for this coming year will just be really small? I am not international but I would be very sad if my cohort, which was supposed to be around 12-15 people, was less than half of that. Thanks in advance!

[AP]

For now, have everything ready so that when the embassies open, you can get an interview. Remember F1 visa interviews are a different category than the tourist visa so it is not unusual to get slots right away. 

In the meantime, direct this questions to the office in your campus dedicated to international students and scholars. They are the only people qualified to give you legal advice and inform you of university policy, like deferrals. In my experience, CCing the program administrator is always a good idea (consult with them beforehand) so that they are on the loop on your situation. Sometimes programs forget about international students' hurdles so it's always a good idea to keep your program informed of the conversations you are having with the International Students Office.

[cyberwulf]

I think it’s likely we’re going to see a lot of international deferrals due to the visa situation.