The University of Utah - International Center - International Students & Scholars

Special registration for males 16 years of age or older who are from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen

If you are a male 16 years of age or older and from Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, or Yemen you will need to go to the local Immigration and Naturalization Office and register. To find out specifically when you are required to go, and to get more information on the procedure, read the INS website at: http://www.ins.gov/graphics/lawenfor/specialreg/index.htm#special
You will need to take your passport, I-94 card and any other government-issued forms such as an I-20, proof of where you live such as a lease or rental agreement, proof of attending the University and, if you are working, proof of your employment. The Immigration Service may also ask for further information. You will need to answer questions under oath before an immigration officer and the officer will record your answers. You will also be fingerprinted and photographed. Then yearly within 10 days of each anniversary of the date on which you registered with the Immigration Service, you will need to go to the Immigration Service and answer questions under oath again. When you change addresses, you must also let the Immigration Service know within 10 days. You should report to the Immigration Service located at 5272 South College Drive, Murray, UT. Not complying with this regulation will be grounds for deportation. If you are here in asylum or permanent resident status, you will not need to register. If you have any questions about this new procedure, please come and talk to us in the International Center.

Duration of Status.In the future people will only be allowed to enter the U.S. 30 days prior to the starting date on their I-20 (in the past when people could enter 90 days in advance). The 60-day grace period after graduation will only be allowed if a person has been in status and officially graduated.

Correspondence Study.Course work outside the normal classroom setting such as correspondence study, long-distance learning and special projects will be limited to 3 credit hours per semester.

Full-Time Status.Course number 7990 will not be counted as full-time status. Letters from graduate departments requesting full-time status be approved for taking less than 9 hours will not be accepted.

Reducing Course Load. After the last scheduled day to drop classes, you must have the approval of the International Center before you withdraw from a class if it will take you below 12 credit hours for undergraduate students or 9 credit hours for graduate students. Withdrawing without our approval will make you out of status. You may not completely withdraw from classes unless you have a letter from a medical doctor recommending you completely withdraw from school. You may only reduce your course load one semester. The next semester you must be full time. You may use medical letters from licensed doctors for up to one year. After that you must return to school full time or change your visa status. Approval for a reduced course load will be entered in the Immigration Service’s computer system. The Immigration Service will be informed the following semester that you have or have not returned to full-time status.

Vacation or Final Semester. You must inform the International Center within 15 days of the start of a semester that you are taking it as a vacation semester or that it will be your final semester before you graduate. We are required to provide this information to the Immigration Service. If it is your last semester, you must provide a letter from your department or the Graduation Office verifying when you are graduating.

Registering. Be sure to register for both first and second sessions of the semester during the first session of the semester. Graduate students must also register for their thesis and faculty consultation hours at the beginning of the first session of the semester. We are required to report student’s hours within 30 days after the registration deadline. If your hours don’t show up when we download the University’s official printout of credit hours, the report to the Immigration Service will show you as out of status.

Concurrent Enrollment. We will no longer authorize concurrent attendance at another institution unless you are registered full time at the University of Utah.

Extensions. Extensions of your I-20 may now be done any time you know it is going to take you longer to graduate than the time indicated on your I-20. You can apply any time instead of waiting until thirty days before your I-20 expires. Also, we will no longer be able to add a year’s grace period to I-20's. Extensions must be done before your I-20 expires. Otherwise, you will be out of status.

Transferring. You must have approval to transfer before you go to a new school. You will need to tell your present school what school you want to transfer to and when. Your present school will need to release you from their school before the new school can issue an I-20.

Practical Training. Twelve months of optional practical training will be allowed after each higher educational degree. You must apply for optional practical training before the end of the semester. You will no longer have a sixty-day grace period after you graduate to apply. You will need to receive the employment authorization card by the end of the semester. Since it usually takes the Immigration Service several months to process practical training, you should apply at the beginning of the semester for practical training to receive your card by the end of the semester.

People wishing to apply for curricular practical training will need to allow time for the curricular practical training authorization to be put into the Immigration web site and have the I-20 with the authorization downloaded from Immigration. This may take several days and you cannot start working until you receive the I-20 with the work authorization on it.

No information for practical training can be entered into the Immigration web site until you have been in status for 9 months.

Reinstatement. You must apply for reinstatement within 5 months of going out of status or the Immigration Service will not consider your application. You will only be reinstated for circumstances beyond your control or violations that would have been within the institution’s power to approve. Immigration has tightened their criteria for what they consider “beyond the student’s control.” Circumstances they might consider beyond a student’s control would be serious injury or illness, closure of the University or a natural disaster. They would not consider inadvertence, oversight, neglect, or a willful failure on the part of the student or the institution as a reason for reinstatement.

Address Change. Students must notify the Immigration Service and the International Center within 10 days of any address change. Notifying the Immigration Service can to be done on the new system by informing the International Center of your new address.

F-2 Status. F-2's may attend elementary and secondary school full time but only attend higher education part time. If an F-2 wishes to attend college or university full time, he/she must change to F-1 status.

Traveling Over the Winter Break

If you need a signature for travel over the winter break on your I-20, IAP-66 form, or DS-2019 form, please come into our office in November or the first week of December. Don’t wait until the last minute. It will take us time to check everyone’s enrollment status before we can sign the forms. If you need to renew your visa before coming back to the United States, please let us know. We will need to put your information on the State Department’s web site.