|
Have you been
accepted to Then, PRINT,
FILL OUT & MAIL the APPLICATION
FOR A FORM I-20 |
PLEASE SEND I-20 APPLICATION
& FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS TO: attn: Mr. Angelos Kyriacou Assistant Registrar & International Student Advisor/DSO
Phone: (212) 237-8199 • Fax: (212) 237-8875 |
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:
The
information on the following pages 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.
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 "Estimated Annual
Financial Requirements For International Students." 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 below 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.
SOURCES
OF FINANCIAL SUPPORT
(Your
financial support can come from any combination
of the following sources in the U.S. or abroad as long as the annual
financial
requirements have been met.)
1.
*Funds from "sponsors"
(parents, relatives, friends,
organizations). You may have as many sponsors as you need. Sponsors may
provide
you with support in the form of cash and/or room and board. Free room
and board
is when you live with someone and don't have to pay for your room or
food.
*It is
highly recommended that at least part of your
financial support come from your home country.
This is important for getting your student visa!
A sponsor
should promise only as much money as he or she is able
to give you. Some sponsors believe that
the more money they promise to give the easier it will be to get your
I-20. One
reason for rejection of financial documents is that we do not believe
the sponsor
can afford to give as much as promised. A sponsor should promise only
what he
or she intends to give and only as much as can be afforded.
2.
Personal funds that come
from your own resources, not from those of your
relatives. Unless you have enough cash to support yourself for your
entire
program of study or can prove other sources of personal income, you
will need a
sponsor with an income sufficient to support you.
DOCUMENTARY
EVIDENCE REQUIREMENTS
Complete
the Application For A Form I-20 (attached)
and submit it with all the necessary evidence of financial capability
directly
to the International Student Advisor (see
first page of this document for name and address) by mail.
We
strongly recommend that you do this at the same time as you are
applying to the
university. That way, once you are accepted, your form I-20 can be
issued quickly!
All
documents you give us must be:
1. Less than 2
months old.
2. In English; we
cannot review documents that
are not in English.
3.
Originals; your original documents will be returned to
you along with your I-20. You will need the originals of all
the
documents you have sent us to take to the American Embassy.
4.
Sponsor affidavits must be notarized, that is, signed by the sponsor in
the
presence of a notary public. The notary public must sign, and the
official seal
of the notary public must be on the affidavit. There are notaries
public at all
U.S. embassies and consulates. In the U.S., most neighborhood
pharmacists,
lawyers and accountants are notaries. There are notaries in all
countries,
though the names for them may be different. There are officials
licensed by the
national or regional government to take sworn statements for courts of
law or
to witness contracts and property deeds.
EVIDENCE
REQUIRED
(Please
note that any combination of the
following types of financial documentation must be equal to, or exceed
the
annual financial requirements. This amount is indicated in the
document,
“Estimated Annual Financial Requirements
for International Students,” and is
either attached to this form or available at;
www.jjay.cuny.edu/f1student)
For
personal funds: A bank statement
is required in your name, which states the date the account was opened,
current
balance (make sure the currency is clear), average deposits and average
balances. The amount of your bank statement will be divided by the
number of
years of study in order to determine how much money you will have
available for
each year of your program of study.
For
each sponsor of cash support, the following 3 documents are required:
1.
Affidavit of Annual Cash Support (forms are included in this
application). This form may be photocopied for each sponsor if you need
more
forms. All information must be filled out and notarized.
2.
*Bank statement(s) in the
name of the sponsor only, which states the date the
account was opened, current balance (make sure the currency is clear),
average
deposits and average balances. The
current balance must show at least the amount of support promised for 1
year. (For example, if one of your sponsor’s is
promising you $15,000.00 for each year of your studies, the bank
statement(s)
must be equal to, or exceed $15,000.00.)
*If a bank
statement is in the name of more than one person,
each individual must submit an affidavit of support. Also, we cannot
accept
statements that do not specify balances unless it is stated to be a
minimum of
six figures in U.S. dollars.
3.
*Proof of income (submit any of the following);
•
Employer's letter on letterhead
stationery with most recent pay stub.
• Last
year’s income tax returns or receipts with most
recent pay stub.
• Bank
statements for the last six
months that indicate deposited income from employment.
•
Investments.
•
If self-employed; income estimate by a bank or private accountant.
*If there
is no proof of income provided with a bank
statement, the statement balance will be totaled and divided by the
number of
years in your program of study to determine the amount available to you
for
each year.
For a *company sponsor:
•
Submit the most recent "Profit
and Loss Statement" for the company.
*The income
of a company is not the income of the owner of the
business
and will not be accepted as proof of income. You must provide an
official
statement of the salary paid to the owner/sponsor.
SPONSORS
OF FREE ROOM AND BOARD
(See
the document, “Estimated Annual
Financial Requirements for International Students” to determine the
estimated annual value of Free Room and Board.)
The
following 3 documents are required:
1. Affidavit of Free Room and Board
(the form is included in the application). All information must be
filled out
and notarized.
2.
Proof of income (submit any of the following);
•
Employer's letter on letterhead
stationery with most recent pay stub.
• Last
year’s income tax returns or receipts with most
recent pay stub.
• Bank
statements for the last six
months that indicate deposited income from employment.
•
Investments.
• If
self-employed; income estimate by
a bank or private accountant.
3. Photocopy of deed, lease deed
or rent receipts.
Acknowledgement
Excerpts used as a primary resource: International Education Training
Services
(IETS)
42-24 158th Street
Flushing, NY 11358