Coming to the US from Canada

K

kxm9976

Registered Users (C)
Hi,

Situation:
Currently I am on F-1 Visa and have a I-20 that states that my studies must be completed by 09/02/2010.

I took this past summer off for summer vacation and remained in the US. I registered for classes for the fall semester starting September 8, 2009 and started attending. On September 17, 2009 I left the US for Canada for a long week-end (visitor visa valid for 6 months) to go site-seeing in Toronto. Once, I was in Canada, I decided to stay here for a month or so to look for employment after I graduate from the US university. I went ahead and dropped the classes that I was registered for (once in Canada).

In June 6, 2009, I had my international student adviser sign the 3rd page of I-20 to show that I am in good academic standing and have been attending school.

I was also told by her that I will not need a new F-1 Visa to enter the US from Canada, since I am not a citizen of a country that is on the special list and all I need is a I-20 to show at the border.

Question:
Since, I am currently not enrolled in any classes, what is the earliest AND the latest I can come back to the US without a F-1 Visa?
FYI, the intersession starts January 4, 2010 and the Spring semester starts January 25, 2010. The Canadian customs official did not take away my I-94.


Thank you very much in advance for all the input.
 
Based on some reading, it appears that if I come back to the US within 30 days from Canada, I will not need a new F-1 Visa (mine is expired).

Now the question remains whether I will not have issues reentering the US because I am not registered for the fall term ( I dropped the classes while in Canada)? And that will make it 107 days (summer + 17 days in september while i was registered and attending schools) + max 30 days that I will stay in Canada.

One last thing, does the 30 day period start from September 8(when school started) or from September 17 (the day I entered Canada)?

I thank again everything that will be willing to provide opinions.
 
Now that I am not too sure about. I know the AVR period is 30 days. Your I-94 probably has D/S on it too. The key is what (if any) actions has the school taken.

kxm9976 said:
Once I was in Canada, I dropped the class I was registered for in the US. Will I still be able to enter with an expired F-1 within the 30 day period?
Click to expand...
 
I spoke with the international student adviser today and explained the situation. She told me that she kept my I-20 active for the fall semester (she probably did this before I dropped classes).

She said that she will contact advisers from other local universities and will let me know as she wasn't sure.

thanks

P.S. isn't there some sort of law that allows to stay in status for 5 months? I wonder if this can be applied to my situation.

Triple Citizen said:
Now that I am not too sure about. I know the AVR period is 30 days. Your I-94 probably has D/S on it too. The key is what (if any) actions has the school taken.
Click to expand...
 
As far as "5 months" and I-20, I know that if you fell out of F1 status, you had 5 months from the date you fell out, to apply for Reinstatement. I went through this process when I fell out of status due to not being enrolled for a semester. Reinstatement is not available to F1 students who have been out of status for more than 5 months.

That's what I know :)
 
benebenes said:
As far as "5 months" and I-20, I know that if you fell out of F1 status, you had 5 months from the date you fell out, to apply for Reinstatement. I went through this process when I fell out of status due to not being enrolled for a semester. Reinstatement is not available to F1 students who have been out of status for more than 5 months.

That's what I know :)
Click to expand...

I wonder if the reinstatement can be done at the border with Canada (while coming from Canada) within 30 days of leaving the US with an expired F-1 visa.
 
you can reenter us with an expired visa if i-94 is valid

you have a valid i-94 d/s. you shall have no problem reentry to usa via landborder
 
5 month is usually a semester plus 30 days. one semester you can drop and still get reinstatement
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top