Entering the US as tourist prior to the start of your F1 visa

[G2A]

Dear all,

 

I've been trying to find a topic on this subject but without any luck. I've accepted an offer to start a PhD at an American university and am currently making plans for the summer and early fall. The F1 visa I will receive will allow me to enter the the country on July 25th. My question is, am I able to enter the U.S. prior to this on as a tourist (visa waiver) despite me having the F1 visa in my passport?

 

Any suggestions/comments would be highly appreciated

/ G2A

[DeleteMePlease]

If I were you I would mail or call your consulate. They can answer you these questions very quickly and you can be sure the answers are correct.

[fuzzylogician]

My understanding is that it is technically possible but it is not recommended. There are two ways to do it - one is you enter with the tourist visa and then go through a process of a change of status to a student visa in the US, once the visa is valid (I don't know how the details work, though). The other is that you enter on the tourist visa, travel and whatnot, then leave to e.g. Mexico or Canada and re-enter on the student visa. The reason that doing this (on either version) is not recommended is that it would make your entry on the tourist status suspicious, as if you were entering to start your education early but without the proper status. I'm sure there are people out there who did it successfully, so it's a question of risks and rewards. Do you really need to enter the US more than a month before your program begins?

[themachine]

What if one were to enter the US on a J1 internship visa in e.g. May to work for the summer and then needs to switch to a J1/F1 student visa to start grad school in e.g. August. Would it be necessary to leave the country after the internship, but before grad school, for the 2nd visa stamp to be applied to your passport? Or can the change of status be done without leaving the US?

[fuzzylogician]

Disclaimer: I am not an immigration expert! Take with a grain of salt and consult with others to be sure. 

 

You need to distinguish between two documents/issues:

- VISA - you need a visa to enter the US. There are different kinds of visas, and which one you have depends on the purpose of your visit to the US (=the status you'll have while visiting).  

- Status - you have be in a legal status throughout your stay in the US. As a student, you need to maintain a student status with your university (by being registered full time, paying all fees, not working beyond what is allowed, etc). You need to enter the US on the visa that is associated with the status you are going to have when you enter. 

 

The documents verifying your student/intern status are issued by your university. The visa is issued by the US embassy in your home country, normally. You can change status from e.g. "intern" (J-1) to "student" (F-1) without leaving the US, via the process I mentioned above (which I don't really know much about). This means that in principle you could legally be in the US under the appropriate status but not yet have the right visa that goes with that status (e.g. you enter on a J-1 visa with that status, then you change status when you become a full-time student). If this is the case, then the next time you leave the US you will need to get the right visa (in this case, the F-1), otherwise you won't be able to re-enter the US. Another possibility is that you already have both visas in your passport before you enter the US, and again - you enter with the J-1 because that's the status you'll have when you enter.  

 

So long story short, what matter is that: (1) you enter the US with the visa that corresponds to the status you are going to have in while you're in the US. (2) you always maintain an appropriate immigration status while in the US. (3) you can change your immigration status without leaving the US, if your circumstances change. 

[themachine]

Thanks for the information. I`ll follow it up with the US consulate in my country.

[G2A]

My understanding is that it is technically possible but it is not recommended. There are two ways to do it - one is you enter with the tourist visa and then go through a process of a change of status to a student visa in the US, once the visa is valid (I don't know how the details work, though). The other is that you enter on the tourist visa, travel and whatnot, then leave to e.g. Mexico or Canada and re-enter on the student visa. The reason that doing this (on either version) is not recommended is that it would make your entry on the tourist status suspicious, as if you were entering to start your education early but without the proper status. I'm sure there are people out there who did it successfully, so it's a question of risks and rewards. Do you really need to enter the US more than a month before your program begins?

Thank you for your replies fuzzylogician.

 

My reason is two-fold, I've been invited to a wedding a couple of months before my "allowed entrance" and I will do fieldwork in the month prior to the program start. I just got home from a 2.5-yr stint as a grad student and my stuff is in storage at the moment, waiting for a cross-country haul as soon as I get there. Also, since I will be there for a while now, I'd like to go and see some possible apartments/houses before I arrive.

 

I called the Embassy earlier today and they said that it would not be a problem.