F1 visa - how do I prove that I don't intend to stay?

[Porridge]

So what sort of evidence do I require to prove that I don't intend to stay in the States after I graduate? I have some financial family documents but what are US immigration looking for?

[Arezoo]

financial document as you mentioned

family ties such as old parents that you have to take care of 

a job offer from a company you are working in or anywhere else in your country saying they need you after graduation

Edited March 27, 2013 by Arezoo

[fuzzylogician]

If you are going to start a 5 year program, no one will expect you to have a job or property in your home country, or much else that could be used to show ties. If you happen to have proof like Arezoo suggests, that would work, of course. Normally nothing much is asked for (unlike in the case of applications for tourist visas) because there is little you can show. Just be sure not to say anything during the interview that would make it seem like you want to stay in the US after graduation (e.g. say you plan on getting a job back in your home country).

[TakeruK]

This page might be useful -- it's instructions about how to interpret "intent" for F-1 (and other statues) visas: http://travel.state.gov/visa/laws/telegrams/telegrams_2734.html

 

Some summary points:

 

1. They should only care about your intent at the time of application, not what might happen in the time you're here as a student. 

 

2. They are supposed to understand that most students are young and do not really have a lot of ties. It should be enough that you have family in your home country that you could return to (they don't have to be old parents that require your care even).

 

3. They aren't supposed to worry about your feasibility of getting a job back in your own country, and while it would help, you don't need to have a job offer lined up (this is probably pretty tough to do). 

 

I think the most important thing, as fuzzy said, is to not say things like you want to move and stay in the US after graduation. Or, you probably shouldn't say something like you plan to meet a nice American person and get married to them to get resident status. All you really have to do, I think, is state that you plan on getting a good education here in the US but currently have no plans to stay in the US afterwards. It's perfectly okay if you do end up with a job offer before graduation or get married and end up changing status (e.g. to H1B) after graduation. They just don't want people to use F-1 status as a way to get into the country long term, even though it could happen sometimes.

 

In addition, you can do things that "maintain ties" such as not closing your bank accounts in your home country, keeping membership in societies or professional associations in your home country, etc. It would also be good if you have family in your home country because you might need to provide a "permanent foreign address" to US Immigration (it's true in my case anyways), so you can use your parents' address for example. Owning property would be another strong proof but not everyone can do that so I don't think it's expected!

 

I am on J-1 status, which has a slightly stricter requirement that I actually return to my home country for 2 years after my J-1 status ends before I can reenter the US on certain visa types. It might depend on your originating country, but for me, they basically just asked/confirmed that I knew about the 2-year return requirement and that I planned on doing so. I said yes and that was it, no proof asked. Being paranoid, I even had all that stuff ready but I guess it's better to be sure

[Andean Pat]

So, just checking, you don't need to show a return ticket?

 

(Some agencies have warned me to check this, since round-trips are usually cheaper than one-way tickets, I was about to buy a return ticket as well, but just found a cheap one-way direct flight to my future home!)

[Porridge]

Thank you.

[TakeruK]

So, just checking, you don't need to show a return ticket?

 

(Some agencies have warned me to check this, since round-trips are usually cheaper than one-way tickets, I was about to buy a return ticket as well, but just found a cheap one-way direct flight to my future home!)

 

From my understanding, you need to show a return ticket for some short term visas (e.g. tourist visas). But, given that a PhD program is 5+ years, can you even book a return flight that far in the future? The page I linked kind of mentioned the difference between evaluating "intent" for a student in a long term program vs. a short stay tourist visa and thus implies, in my opinion, things like a return ticket for 5+ years in the future isn't necessary. 

 

However, obviously, we Gradcafers are immigration law experts and can only speak about the experiences we actually had (i.e. my wife and I entered with a one-way ticket and showed no other proof of return other than our word). I also know that it's up to the discretion of the border agent to ultimately decide whether or not to admit you. In my opinion, checking with your school's International Student/Scholar office is probably the best idea and if it's not too much extra work, it's probably worth it to have documentation to prove intent to leave the US. It might be hard to book roundtrip tickets without knowing your research/course/exam schedule though -- I find it pretty hard to make travel plans for anything beyond a few months from now!