Delaying I-20

[bellaflor77]

Hi

I have received my admission letter by the end of April, the Department told me that the International Office would follow up with me shortly, but it has been a month already, and they say that only one person is in charge

of issuing I-20s and she is never at her desk, or she took May for vacation and the colleagues are covering. I don't know what is really going on.

But I am worried, how long does it take to issue an I-20, is it just negligence or does it take that much long?

I'm worried I could miss classes or not get there in time.

Should I insist calling or does it affect my admission?

[eklavya]

Should I insist calling or does it affect my admission?

maybe they are waiting some paperworks from you? but you should call - it won't affect your admission and enrollment.

also, some schools i know of let the graduate admissions handle graduate level i20s (instead of the int'l office). so you might want to inquire on that as well.

good luck!

[squaresquared]

For mine I had to make sure my financial form was sent in. Then I received an email from the department that handles them telling me I had to register to have it mailed to me. I waited in limbo for 1.5 weeks and then FedEx showed up with my documents. The date on the documents was 3 days prior to when I actually received them, so I don't believe it takes long for them to actually send. Mine was a single sheet that just had my school/course info on it and my name with a signature. Nothing too complicated.

[newms]

Hi

I have received my admission letter by the end of April, the Department told me that the International Office would follow up with me shortly, but it has been a month already, and they say that only one person is in charge

of issuing I-20s and she is never at her desk, or she took May for vacation and the colleagues are covering. I don't know what is really going on.

But I am worried, how long does it take to issue an I-20, is it just negligence or does it take that much long?

I'm worried I could miss classes or not get there in time.

Should I insist calling or does it affect my admission?

You should definitely follow up. It took about 5 weeks to get my I-20 after I accepted the school's offer of admission, but since I had accepted in March, I got my I-20 about a month ago. So perhaps they are still working on it, but I would definitely follow up with them to check if they need anything more from you. You still have time to get your visa processed, but that time is running out.

[kaykaykay]

you could write for the graduate advisor of your department too. I had to get my I20 faster than normal because I was leaving for the summer to a different country and my dep't graduate advisor was pivotal in helping to speed up things by calling around within the university. I would not be very worried just yet (first of all May has ended!), secondly my I20 arrived in 3 days after they sent it and I got my visa within another week. I would try to find out how long does it take in your country to get an appointment for the visa (in some countries it can take a while) and panic/ try speed up the process accordingly.

Oh do not worry calling them should not affect your admission at all. In fact your department wants you there (if they admitted you they do! ) and normally your department will help you in whatever way to get you there!

Edited June 1, 2011 by kalapocska

[bellaflor77]

you could write for the graduate advisor of your department too. I had to get my I20 faster than normal because I was leaving for the summer to a different country and my dep't graduate advisor was pivotal in helping to speed up things by calling around within the university. I would not be very worried just yet (first of all May has ended!), secondly my I20 arrived in 3 days after they sent it and I got my visa within another week. I would try to find out how long does it take in your country to get an appointment for the visa (in some countries it can take a while) and panic/ try speed up the process accordingly.

Oh do not worry calling them should not affect your admission at all. In fact your department wants you there (if they admitted you they do! ) and normally your department will help you in whatever way to get you there!

I called today to the international office and they said that they have sent my I-20 to my department already. So it should be easier to get it from them. I was in panic because i couldn't find the person in charge in the international office for 1 month , I just found her today!

It is a good idea to call the embassy to know how long should I wait for an appointment, but I don't think it will take long since not a whole lot of people from my country go to US to study.

Besides, I heard that even if I have the visa issued I won't be able to get in the country before than 30 days prior to the first class.

[kaykaykay]

great news.