how long can you stay in us with your student visa - Visa USA Expert

How long can you stay in the US with a student visa?When you enter the U.S. on your student visa, you will usually be allowed to stay for the duration of your your student status. That means you may stay as long as you are a full time student (you will need to confirm with your college what full-time means for undergraduate and graduate studies), even if the F-1 visa in your passport expires while you are in the United States.Once you complete your course of studies as defined on your I-20, and you finish up with any authorized practical training, you are allowed additional time in the U.S. before departure:F-1 student – An additional 60 days, to prepare for departure from the U.S. or to transfer to another school.M-1 student – An additional 30 days to depart the U.S. (Fixed time period, in total not to exceed one year). The 30 days to prepare for departure is permitted as long as the student maintained a full course of study and maintained status. An M student may receive extensions up to three years for the total program.As an example regarding duration of status, if you have a visa that is valid for five years that will expire on January 1, 2013, and you are admitted into the U.S. for the duration of your studies (often abbreviated in your passport or on your I-94 card as “D/S”), you may stay in the U.S. as long as you are a full time student. Even if January 1, 2013 passes and your visa expires while in the U.S., you will still be in legal student status.However, if you depart the United States with an expired visa, you will need to obtain a new one, applying at an Embassy abroad and going through another interview with a Consular Officer, before being able to return to the U.S. and resume your studies.Go USA!– MikeAll information presented here is from my personal research and my attempts to save you time and money when pursuing your dream of coming to the USA to study. Do not take any of this information as LEGAL advice – I am not an attorney, nor do I play one on TV. This information is gathered from a variety of sources including many U.S. Government websites and I urge you to validate this information as much as possible, just as I do when posting on this blog.