CASE: F-1 Reinstatement
APPLICANT: Korean
LOCATION: Anaheim, CA
Our client came from South Korea in 2012 to pursue her Pre-Med Program. Later, she enlisted at the US Army through the MAVNI program. The contract was valid for 2 years supposedly for deployment. While waiting, and to further her studies, she applied for and was issued an I-20 to obtain her Bachelor’s program in Biology. But delays over delays occurred which weren’t her fault, and thus, she was not able to be shipped out for deployment. As such, her I-20 expired in February 16, 2016. She continued on fully expecting her MAVNI application to be approved. She obtained a fingerprint notice on January 20, 2017 for fingerprinting at February 1, 2017. However, delays after delays then eventually a cancellation of her deployment happened. Thus, she failed to maintain her F-1 visa status.
There are many reasons why some F-1 students fall out of status. In limited circumstances, they could still apply for F-1 reinstatement if they meet the requirements. It starts by talking to the school’s international student immigration representative. Upon providing all the necessary documentation, your immigration advisor should issue you a new I-20 with a reinstatement endorsement. Each school has its own guidelines on what you need to show. Typically you should explain the exceptional circumstances which led you to not maintain full-time course load.
For the USCIS to grant reinstatement, the standards are as follows:
- The student became out of status due to circumstances beyond the student’s control, or the student would suffer extreme hardship if not reinstated
- The student intends to pursue full-time study
- No other grounds of removability (criminal cases, for example) apply to the student other than the overstay or status violation
- The student has not worked illegally off-campus
- The period being out of status is not more than five months, or there were exceptional circumstances for being out of status longer and the application was filed as soon as possible
- The student does not have a record of repeated immigration violations
In July of 2017, our client contacted our office to do her F-1 reinstatement application. Our office promptly prepared her application with various supporting documents to demonstrate that she became out of status due to circumstances beyond her control and that she would suffer extreme hardship if not reinstated. Moreover, our office explained that our client never had any status violations prior to this incident and never engaged in unauthorized employment. Our office filed her F-1 reinstatement application on August 15, 2017 to USCIS.
However, in November 22, 2017, the USCIS issued Request for Evidence and asked our client to submit Form I-134 from her financial sponsor. We filed the response to RFE along with I-134 form on December 6, 2017.
On January 4, 2018, our office was notified by the USCIS that our client’s F-1 reinstatement is granted. Now, our client has a chance to pursue her Bachelor’s program in the United States.