Renew VISA? Master to PhD

[Sorawit]

I just had my master's degree in May 2015 and it's likely that I'll be going back to school for a PhD this coming fall. I am wondering if I have to renew my F-1 VISA or do anything with it. Any thoughts?

[Chalice_As]

hey! Congratulations! Since the new I20 will be a from a different school you will need a new visa. Cos the visa needs to be sponsored by the school you are enrolled in. I graduated from a master's program in may 2015 too and plan to go back to school in fall of 2016, I am sure Ill need a new visa, go through the whole application process again. :-/ not looking forward to that. oh well.

[Sorawit]

Thanks! So do you think when we'll have to go to the Embassy and get a new visa then? Or the school's international student services will take care of that.

[fuzzylogician]

Student visas can't be renewed, so you'll have to get a new visa. After you're admitted, the international students office at your new school will send you your I-20, and after that you'll be able to pay the SEVIS fee and get a date to visit the US embassy or consulate near you. This will happen roughly in Late April or May, but the actual timing may vary and depends entirely on how your school operates. They might do it much sooner or much later. If you don't hear from them until May, you could probably write them to inquire about when you might expect to receive the documents. 

[TakeruK]

As fuzzy said, you cannot renew a visa---you can only get a new one. Also, you can only get a visa from outside of the United States, so if you aren't leaving the US between your degrees, then you don't need a new visa. You do need to get a new F-1 status (new I-20) and your new school's international student office will work with you to get the information needed to issue you a new I-20. If you are outside of the US, then you need to get this new I-20 and apply for a new F-1 visa. It will be the same process as you originally went through to get your first F-1 visa. The school's international office will issue I-20s and provide information but it's up to you to apply for the visa (they can't and won't do it for you).

[Sorawit]

Thank you all so much for answering my question!

[fuzzylogician]

1 hour ago, TakeruK said:

Also, you can only get a visa from outside of the United States, so if you aren't leaving the US between your degrees, then you don't need a new visa. 

True, but important caveat: you'll need to apply for a new visa the first time you'll leave the country, because you need the visa to enter the US on your F-1 status (you need a valid I-20 to be in the US on your F-1 status). So, it might be worth figuring out a way to get a new visa over the summer so you're not stuck unable to come back if you need to travel at some later point, since I presume you do intend to travel at some point in the next five years; or at least you should be aware of this and plan accordingly for your first trip out of the US.