Immigration Information
Frequently Asked Questions
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What is the difference between a visa and status?
Visa vs. Status
A visa is a physical document that permits you to apply for admission to a particular country for a particular purpose, such as doing business, tourism, or becoming a student. It is not a guarantee that you will be allowed to enter, just a permit to request entry. If you are allowed to enter the US on a particular student or exchange visitor visa, that visa may expire during your residence here without any negative consequences; it has already fulfilled its function in allowing you to apply for entry as a student or exchange visitor. If you think of a visa as a key, and the United States as a building - once you enter the building, it does not matter if you lose the key or the locks are changed, so long as you remain inside the building.
Once you use your visa and enter the United States, you have a status which matches the visa you use. If you use a J-1 Exchange Visitor visa, you will enter with J-1 status, if you use an F-1 Student visa, you will be given F-1 status, if you use a B2 Tourist visa (or use the visa waiver program), and you have B-2 status, and so forth. How long you may stay in that "status" depends on what the immigration officer at the port of entry wrote on your I-94 Arrival/Departure form. If you were admitted as a F-1 student or J-1 exchange visitor, you should have been admitted for the Duration of Status or "D/S" - which means you may stay as long as you follow all of the rules for that category, and you don't allow your other paperwork to expire. Other visitors to the US are given a specific date on their I-94 cards and must leave, or ask for an extension, by that date.
You may also "change status" within the United States without having to obtain a visa. For instance, if you are here because your parents brought you as a dependant on an L or H visa, you may request a change of status, and become the primary holder of an F or J status, in order to continue your stay here in another category -- regardless of whether your parent stays in the US. For more information on changing your status, please contact your Immigration Advisor. |
