Q: Please Help !!! F1 - Travelling to Canada before School Starts

[aha999]

Hi,

My cousin has an F1 visa. He is going to travel to the US at the end of August. The school won't start until mid September. We'd like to take him to an Alaska cruise. The cruise leaves from Seattle and it will stop at Victoria in Canada.

My questions are:

1) Is this considered leaving the US?

2) If yes, can he get back in to the US with his F1?

3) Does he need any document from the school before he is going to the cruise?

One of the options that we come up with is to apply another tourist (B1/B2) visa. So he can use B1/B2 when he comes in first and then use F1 when he comes back from the cruise? Is this a good solution?

Thank you,

Charlie

 

[gemofthecarib]

The F1 visa lasts for duration of status as a student at the school. This gives him the freedom to travel in and out of the country while he is a student on an F1 visa.

You cannot have more than one visa, as the most recent one will cancel the other, hence, if he applies for a b1/b2 visa, his F1 visa will be cancelled.

You should not need any documents from the school, but you can check with the Foreign student advisor to clarify this. Hope it helps