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Have you been
accepted to Then, PRINT,
FILL OUT & MAIL the |
PLEASE SEND I-20 APPLICATION
& FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS TO: Office of Undergraduate Admissions
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Are you an F-1
student
transferring to John Jay College of Criminal Justice? Click Here
Please
Read
This First Before Submitting I-20 Application
HOW TO GET
YOUR FORM I-20
Certificate
of Eligibility for
F-1 Student Status
IMPORTANT:
this
information carefully explains how to get your
Form
I-20. Please read it and follow the directions completely
to avoid delays in getting your I-20.
What
is a Form I-20 and why do you need one?
1. You
are or expect to be a "bona
fide" student.
2. You
meet our admissions requirements.
3. You
will pursue a full course of
study (you must be full-time for each
semester enrolled).
4. You
proved to us that you have
enough money to study and live in the U.S. without working illegally or
suffering from poverty.
You
need a Form I-20 to obtain an F-l student visa or status, or to keep
lawful F-l
status when transferring or changing schools within the U.S. To apply
for an F-1 student visa, you must make an appointment for a visa
interview at the U.S. consulate/embassy
in your home country.
Does
everybody need an I-20?
Now
that you
are planning to be a student, there are 2 things you cannot do!
If
you use a B visa to enter the U.S., you are saying “I’m here as a
visitor”
only. Since you contacted our school about study, this would be viewed
as a
“fraudulent entry” and you could be refused permission to stay longer
than six
months or to extend or change your status. Do not listen to
people who
say it is easy to enter the country as a visitor and change your
status. It is
not true! B visitors are prohibited by U.S. law from pursuing a course
of study
prior to obtaining a change of status to F-1 student.
2.
Do not enter
the U.S. without a visa (unless you are Canadian).
If you
are from a country from which
you can enter the U.S. as a visitor by showing a round trip airline
ticket, do
not do this. If you enter without a visa, you will be permitted to stay
for
only 90 days. You will not be given more time or allowed to change to
student
status.
If
your study
plans are not certain and you want to enter the U.S. to visit schools,
you must
explain this on your visa application and ask the visa officer for a
B-2 visa
with the words “Prospective Student”
noted on it or have the words added to your B visa if you already have
one.
These
are the rules for getting your Form I-20
2.
You must prove to us that you can support the costs of living and
studying in
the U.S. for every year of your program of study. U.S. law requires
this.
Do not expect that you will be able to
work in the U.S. to help meet your annual costs! On-campus employment is
limited and competitive; off-campus
employment is strictly controlled by the United States Citizenship and
Immigration Services (USCIS).
Carefully
review our school’s "2009-2010 Annual Estimate of Expenses
for
International Students" (located inside the I-20 application). This is the
amount
that you must prove that you can support for every year in your program
of
study. (Estimate 4-5 years for a Bachelor's degree and 2-3 years for a
Master's
degree.)
These
requirements are not negotiable. They represent a modest average budget
that
does not include luxuries of any kind. We strongly recommend that you
budget at
least 10% more if possible. Too little money causes pain and distress.
We
insist that students and their families look closely at the costs of
living and
studying in the U.S. and make careful plans to be sure your needs will
be met. Expect
annual increases in tuition and living costs of approximately 10%.
Read
and follow the instructions very carefully. You cannot complete
this process
without following them step-by-step. Sometimes, we may have to ask you
to give
us more evidence of your financial ability; perhaps more than once. The
U.S.
government requires that we be absolutely sure, to the best of our
ability,
that you will have enough financial support to cover the full costs of
your
stay in the U.S.
Acknowledgement
Excerpts used as a primary resource: International Education Training
Services
(IETS)
42-24 158th Street
Flushing, NY 11358