June 2009 HIO Newsletter
Welcome Harvard Summer School students!
The Harvard International Office (HIO) welcomes you to Harvard University. We hope that your experience will be exciting, challenging and rewarding. In addition, we hope that you will use your time in the United States to experience the U.S. culture and history. Boston is a vibrant city with a rich history and a wide variety of social and cultural activities for you to enjoy.
Each summer international students from more than 70 countries come to study at the Harvard Summer School. To better address the special needs of summer school students who have a Form I-20 issued by Harvard University, a Summer School International Student Advisor is available in the Harvard International Office (HIO). The Summer School advisor is Michael Welch.
Office location and hours are:
Harvard International Office
1350 Massachusetts Avenue (Harvard Square)
Holyoke Center, Room 864
Cambridge, MA 02138
The HIO is open Monday-Friday 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. Please note that the HIO will be closed on Friday, July 3. The HIO has an Advisor on Call (AOC) available daily during regular office hours for routine services such as travel signatures on visa documents and registration procedures for new arrivals. Students do not need appointments to see the AOC for basic questions. This service is provided on a first-come first-served basis. For more complicated matters, please contact Michael Welch directly at michael_welch@harvard.edu
Some General Immigration Information for F-1 Students
USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service) regulations define the types of activities you can engage in while you are in the United States. Please understand that you are responsible for following the USCIS regulations in order to maintain your immigration status for your entire stay in the United States in F-1 status. To maintain your status, be certain to follow these simple guidelines:
1. You must have registered during International Student Check-In weekend or at the HIO.
2. If you change your U.S. residential address, you must report the new address to the HIO within 10 days of your move. To update your residential address, please complete the change of address form at the HIO or through the HIO web site: http://www.hio.harvard.edu/changeofaddress/
3. What does it mean to be a Full-time student?
International students who entered the United States using a Harvard Summer School Form I-20 with an F-1 student visa MUST be enrolled full-time. For a Harvard Summer School student, full-time enrollment means taking 8 units of credit (2 classes) during the 7 week program. If you are thinking about studying less than full-time, see below.
4. BEFORE dropping a course(s), withdrawing from school, changing schools, extending your stay, or traveling outside the United States, consult Michael Welch, Summer School advisor at the HIO.
Suggestion! Make copies of your documents - the biographical page of your passport, U.S. visa stamp,
I-94, and SEVIS Form I-20 or DS-2019 (J-1 students) - and keep the originals in a safe place and carry only copies of your documents while in the Boston/Cambridge to avoid losing the original documents.
Your travels during Summer School
Outside the United States:
Before you leave the U.S., be sure to have the proper documents to re-enter the U.S. to resume your studies. To re-enter, you need to complete the following steps:
1. Visit the Harvard International Office if you do not have a travel signature from an HIO Advisor. Check on page 3 of your Form I-20. Your Form I-20 should have been signed by an HIO Advisor when you registered during the registration weekend. The HIO advisor signature is valid for reentry to the U.S. until 08/07/2009. If a signature is needed, please bring your Form I-20, I-94, and your passport to the HIO.
2. Check the visa stamp in your passport to make sure that it will still be valid at the time of your re-entry to the United States. Please check with the HIO if you need help determining whether or not your visa will be valid. (Canadian citizens, please note: a visa is not necessary for entry into the United States, but your Form I-20 must contain the travel signature found on page 3.)
3. If you are visiting a country other than your home country, check with the embassy of that country
for the entry visa requirements. Often this information is available on the website of the embassy
of that country.
Going to Canada for the weekend during Harvard Summer School??
If you plan to visit Canada during the summer, please stop by the Harvard International Office or visit the HIO web site at http://www.hio.harvard.edu/travel/traveltocanada/ to learn the requirements for entry to Canada and re-entry to the United States. Also, you may need to obtain a visitor’s visa to enter Canada, a process that can take up to two weeks. Consult the Canadian consulate’s web site at: http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp for more information.
Remember: Keep your passport and Form I-20 in a safe place and keep a photocopy of your documents in a different place in case the originals are lost or stolen. Please note: Do not pack your passport and I-20 with your luggage.
After Harvard Summer School & the 60-day grace period
Staying in the United States
Students in valid F-1 status are permitted to remain in the United States for 60 days after the completion of the Summer School program – 08/07/2009. This is called a “grace period,” and it is designed to allow you to complete your non-study related activities in the United States before you return home. Please note: during the 60-day grace period, you are only allowed to remain or travel within the United States. For traveling outside the United States during the grace period, please contact the HIO.
Transferring out of Harvard Summer School
Some students will seek admission to other schools during the 60 day grace period to continue their studies in the U.S. If it is your goal to continue your studies elsewhere after Harvard Summer School and you have been admitted to that school, you will need to request a transfer of your F-1 SEVIS record to that school. Once that is done, the new school will be able to issue a new Form I-20, thus completing the transfer. It is a simple procedure, but it requires a Transfer-In form from the school you are going to attend.
What you need to know:
- Your SEVIS record can only reside with one school at a time.
- In most cases, for students who will attend new schools immediately following Summer School, the release date of their SEVIS records will be after the completion date on your Harvard I-20 (see section 5).
- Those students, who are admitted to a new school during the 60 day grace period following 08/07/2009, will have their SEVIS record released on the chosen date indicated on the Transfer-In form.
What you need to do:
- Request a Transfer-In form from the new school. Complete your information in the student section of the form and sign the form.
- Have a copy of the admission / confirmation letter from the new school you plan to attend.
- Both the Transfer-In form and a copy of your admission / confirmation letter must be submitted together to: Harvard International Office (HIO)
1350 Massachusetts Avenue
Holyoke Center, 864 Cambridge, MA 02138
Or you can fax the above to 617-495-4088, attention: Michael Welch
IMPORTANT! Please do not submit the Transfer-In form and the admission / confirmation letter to the Registrar’s Office at the Extension School. The transfer will not be processed if you do.
Processing times
After submitting the transfer-in form and a copy of the school’s admission/confirmation letter to the HIO, it will take approximately 2-4 business days to release your SEVIS record to the new school. Generally, the release of your SEVIS record will be the date after the completion date on your I-20 (within the 60-day grace period).
Good luck with your studies and have a great summer!