Congratulations on your admission to Yale! OISS will begin processing the visa documents for newly admitted students after we have confirmation of your admission. The steps listed below are for students who are requesting a change of status from one active U.S. visa status to a student visa, a change of education level, or who have an active SEVIS record to transfer to Yale. All of these processes can take place inside the U.S. and do not require international travel or a visa stamp. However, if you do have international travel plans prior to starting at Yale, OISS may need to make some changes in the process. You must let us know about any international travel plans. Please don't hesitate to contact your designated OISS adviser.
Yale College students should contact their designated adviser at daniel.riecker@yale.edu.
Preliminary Steps
Professional School students will submit financial documents to their school contact.
GSAS Masters students should go to the Application Status Portal to submit your Financial Certification form and supporting documents. For GSAS Masters students, the form will be available on your Application Status Portal only after you accept an offer of admission.
Each school will have a deadline to submit documents, and your immigration document cannot be issued until you do, so be sure that you complete this step.
Yale College students are not required to complete the financial certification form. You will instead upload evidence of funding for your first year at Yale to the online survey (see next section).
After accepting your offer of admission, you will receive an email from OISS with a link to an online survey. We begin this process in mid to late March. After receiving all of your required documentation, OISS will prepare the next steps (below) or contact you requesting further information. Before issuing a change of status I-20 an OISS adviser will contact you to review the process and expectations for USCIS processing time. If you are transferring your F-1 or J-1 SEVIS record to Yale, we cannot create your Yale immigration document until the transfer release date. The OISS review of your survey and follow up contacts generally take about two weeks.
F or J SEVIS Transfers
The preliminary steps above are required before OISS can process your SEVIS transfer of your F-1 or J-1 status to Yale. Note that your SEVIS release date will determine when OISS can create your I-20 or DS-2019 so there may be a length of time between your completion of the initial steps and the actual issue date of your immigration document.
Click on the F or J visa types below to learn more about the transfer process and required documentation.
Change of Education Level or Category
If you are remaining at Yale but changing to a different academic program (e.g. from a Master's to a PhD program), or interested in changing your category of exchange participation, click on the F or J visa types below to learn more.
Change of Visa Status
A change of status application (Form I-539) is where students apply through the mail to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for either F or J student status. The application process with USCIS is a complicated and takes a very long time. When you complete your survey (see step 2 above) be sure to indicate that you have a current visa status in the U.S. Your OISS adviser will work with you to develop a plan and prepare your immigration document. The I-539 application cannot be submitted to USCIS until you have completed the preliminary steps above and received the F-1 Form I-20 or J-1 Form DS-2019 from OISS.
Click on the F or J visa types below to learn more about the change of status process and required documentation.
