F1 visa

[hellosrpm]

My son is under F2 visa and will be heading to college soon. Can we change college after F1 visa is issued under one school.If so how many days before the school starts we can do this process.
Thanks!

[paultesar]

Given that your son has valid F-1 visa with active SEVIS record, he should be able to transfer from one college to another without any restrictions. Each school he would be transferring from has to release his I-20 and transfer his record to new school were he would receive a new I-20.The process can be done in as little as one day, it depends on schools' policies and their officials how long it's gonna take.

If I understand the system right, your son's visa status is determined by his SEVIS record, which is independent from the university. Universities just access this record and update its information. The F-1 visa in your son's passport is valid as long as he is enrolled in any college in the US, and has active I-20 (with that school).

You may want to verify this information with school's DSO person, usually you find him/her in international admissions/programs office at given school. The info I gave you in this post is based on my experience as I have changed universities three times over the course of study on F-1 visa.

Best regards,

PT

[kabkaba]

That is not entirely correct.
If your son gets I-20 from one school, pays SEVIS fees and gets change of status to F1 with this SEVIS ID, he must attend that school.
For him to attend another school with the same SEVIS ID, he must complete a transfer process. Schools can refuse to relase SEVIS without him attending at least 1 semester. So it all depends on the school.

[paultesar]

Yes indeed, it is up to school to decide what policy it's gonna use for transfers. The 1 semester minimum is common standard. The point I was trying to make is that it can be done in as little as one day without having to deal with USCIS or embassy. The best thing to do before he submits his transfer application, is to check with DSO persons at both schools.

Best regards,

PT

[hellosrpm]

Thanks for the reply! It looks like I need to wait until I hear from other schools.
Would it be OK if I can contact the corresponding school for transfer question before accepting their offer.