F1 Visa renewal - pending status

[blues]

Hi,

I am a continuing PhD student in the US in Computer Engineering. My visa had recently expired (July 2010) and I had gone for my visa interview on 15th Dec. (I went to Mumbai, India)

There was a change in my home country address and my older passport did not reflect that information.

I was asked to get a new passport, which I have now.

However, the document collection lady in the visa office in my country told me that I need to wait for an email from them before I can come again. The documents they have given me says that my visa is in PENDING state.

It has been already 3+ weeks since I submitted all the information they had asked from me. I have to go back and resume my research.

Is there anything I can do here?

Thanks in advance,

Reshmi

[fuzzylogician]

Unfortunately in this situation they have all the power and you have none. If you haven't contacted them since you submitted all your paperwork then probably what you need to do is contact the embassy and ask for a status update, maybe there was some mistake or something got lost, or they are swamped and it takes a long time to get an appointment. From all I've heard embassies are usually understanding when it comes to grad students who attend reputable schools. However, you need to be careful not to irritate anyone by contacting them too often. If for any (unlikely) reason your visa is refused, you'll be in a great deal of trouble. Have you tried contacting the international student office at your university? They might be able to assist, or at least tell you what your next move should be.

[Strangefox]

Is there anything I can do here?

Thanks in advance,

Reshmi

I hope it will end well!

Just a question - can a person renew F-1 visa without leaving the US?

[fuzzylogician]

Just a question - can a person renew F-1 visa without leaving the US?

No, the visa is only issued at embassies outside the US. It also can't be renewed, to the best of my knowledge. You have to have a new one issued and you have to go through the same procedure to issue it as you did the first time around. The visa is the document you use to enter the US, and it needs to be valid at the point of entry. It can expire during your stay in the US but you'll still be in status as long as your I-20 is valid. The first time you leave the US you then have to pass by the embassy (preferably in your home country, I've heard stories of people being refused treatment when they tried to go to the embassy in Canada, for example) and have a new one issued before you can reenter.

[blues]

Unfortunately in this situation they have all the power and you have none. If you haven't contacted them since you submitted all your paperwork then probably what you need to do is contact the embassy and ask for a status update, maybe there was some mistake or something got lost, or they are swamped and it takes a long time to get an appointment. From all I've heard embassies are usually understanding when it comes to grad students who attend reputable schools. However, you need to be careful not to irritate anyone by contacting them too often. If for any (unlikely) reason your visa is refused, you'll be in a great deal of trouble. Have you tried contacting the international student office at your university? They might be able to assist, or at least tell you what your next move should be.

Thanks for the reply! I agree I cannot contact them too often.

The international office seems like a good idea as of now.

[adinutzyc]

That being said, you can apply for a visa by going to any country close to the States, so less expensive to go to (eg Mexico). The only problem I see with that is that if they deny your visa, you're sorta stuck there...