{"id":15137,"date":"2024-01-10T16:22:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T21:22:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/?p=15137"},"modified":"2024-08-07T14:06:10","modified_gmt":"2024-08-07T18:06:10","slug":"spring-2024-student-reminders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/2024\/01\/10\/spring-2024-student-reminders\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring 2024 Student Reminders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Please review the information below for important reminders about\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/immigration-status\/maintaining-status\/\">maintaining status<\/a>\u202ffor new students and continuing F and J students. Please read our updated summaries of\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/files\/2023\/01\/F-1-Student-Rights-and-Responsibilities-2022-07-18.pdf\">F-1 student<\/a>\u202fand\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/files\/2022\/08\/J-1-Student-Rights-and-Responsibilities-2022-08-10.pdf\">J-1 student<\/a>\u202fregulations to learn more!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update Your Addresses in the MyBU Student Portal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It is critical that you understand the different addresses on the\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/2023\/01\/12\/spring-2023-student-reminders\/%E2%80%9Dhttps:\/student.bu.edu\/MyBU\/%E2%80%9D\">MyBU Student Portal<\/a>\u202fand keep each address updated correctly. Local address is used by the university to know your location while the\u202f<strong>Foreign-Immigration<\/strong>\u202fand the\u202f<strong>US-Immigration<\/strong>\u202faddress are reported to the US Department of Homeland Security through SEVIS. Immigration regulations require that you\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/immigration-status\/maintaining-status\/address\/\">update your address<\/a>\u202fwithin 10 days of a move so you must keep your immigration-related addresses in the\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/2023\/01\/12\/spring-2023-student-reminders\/%E2%80%9Dhttps:\/student.bu.edu\/MyBU\/%E2%80%9D\">MyBU Student Portal<\/a>\u202fup to date throughout the duration of your program.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Foreign-Immigration address:<\/strong>\u202fmust reflect your address in your home country<\/li>\n<li><strong>US-Immigration address:<\/strong>\u202fmust reflect your current US address (If you are living on campus, this address will automatically reflect your BU housing address)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Initial ISSO Check-in<\/em><\/strong><strong>\u202ffor New Students<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>All international students beginning a new program and F-1 students returning to campus after a leave of absence will be required to complete\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/getting-started\/checking-in-with-isso\/\"><em>Initial ISSO check-in<\/em><\/a>\u202fremotely through the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/issoportal.bu.edu\/_portal\/\">ISSOPortal.<\/a><\/strong> You will be required to upload copies of your US immigration documents to notify us of your arrival in the US so we can activate your SEVIS record. You should only complete Initial\u202f<em>ISSO check-in\u202f<\/em><strong>after<\/strong>\u202fyou have entered the US. Students beginning a new program of study will receive separate email messages with additional details about\u202f<em>Initial ISSO check-in<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SEVIS Reporting for Continuing Students<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Boston University is required to confirm your enrollment to the US Department of Homeland Security through the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) at the start of each semester. The ISSO will rely on your academic registration data to automatically update your SEVIS record for fall. You do not need to take any additional steps provided you are academically registered.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Enrollment Requirements<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Remember that you must be enrolled\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/immigration-status\/maintaining-status\/courseload\/\">full-time<\/a>\u202fand making normal academic progress in your degree each semester. For most students, full-time is a minimum of 12 credits. Some graduate student programs may have different full-time equivalents, but you must be certified as a full-time student to maintain valid student immigration status. Students are only allowed to take one online course each semester towards the 12 credit enrollment minimum so students seeking to enroll in an online course must enroll in at least 8 credits of in-person instruction. If it is your last semester and you need less than 12 credits to graduate, you should enroll in at least one on-campus course and request authorization for a\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/immigration-status\/maintaining-status\/courseload\/\">Reduced Course load<\/a>\u202ffrom your ISSO advisor prior to the start of the semester.<\/p>\n<p><strong>On-Campus Employment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Immigration regulations allow international students to work a maximum of 20 hours per week on-campus during the regular semester. If you have multiple jobs, you are still restricted to a maximum of 20 hours per week. The consequences of exceeding the 20 hour per week limit are severe so it is important you pay attention to your hours each week. You can read more about being hired to work on-campus\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/on-campus-student-employment\/\">on the ISSO website<\/a>. If you have not worked on-campus before, you will need to complete an\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/on-campus-student-employment\/i-9-employment-eligibility-verification\/\">I-9 Employment Eligibility<\/a>\u202fform before you begin work. If you do not have a\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/social-security-cards\/\">Social Security Number<\/a>, you will need to apply for one after you secure a job.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Off-Campus Employment<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Immigration regulations intentionally limit employment option off campus during the academic year so you can concentrate on your full-time coursework. You can learn about eligibility requirements and the application process from the\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/student-off-campus-work-and-training\/\">ISSO website<\/a>. Consequences of beginning employment without authorization are severe so, it is critical that you obtain specific authorization BEFORE you begin any employment opportunity.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>F-1 students may qualify for\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/student-off-campus-work-and-training\/curricular-practical-training-cpt-f-1\/\">Curricular Practical Training<\/a>\u202ffrom the ISSO for academic internship experiences specifically required by a program of study or a particular course. Alternatively, if you are interested in gaining work experience related to your major field of study during your program, you may need to apply for\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/student-off-campus-work-and-training\/optional\/applying-for-opt\/\">pre-completion OPT<\/a>\u202femployment authorization in advance from USCIS for Optional Practical Training for jobs directly related to your field of study.<\/li>\n<li>J-1 students may qualify for\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/employment-internships\/student-off-campus-work-and-training\/academic\/\">Academic Training<\/a>\u202fauthorization from the ISSO for experiences related to your program of study.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We wish you a successful semester. The ISSO team is\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/contact\/isso-advisor-on-call-for-student\/\">available<\/a>\u202fin-person or virtually to support you. Attend one of our immigration\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/calendar\/\">workshops<\/a>\u202for visit our\u202f<a href=\"\/isso\/contact\/\">website<\/a>\u202fto learn how to contact us, find your ISSO advisor, meet with our Advisor-On-Call or schedule an appointment. Given an increased volume of inquiries, it may take your advisor a few days to respond to inquiries and up to 10 business days to issue immigration documents and complete requests so please plan in advance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please review the information below for important reminders about\u202fmaintaining status\u202ffor new students and continuing F and J students. Please read our updated summaries of\u202fF-1 student\u202fand\u202fJ-1 student\u202fregulations to learn more! Update Your Addresses in the MyBU Student Portal It is critical that you understand the different addresses on the\u202fMyBU Student Portal\u202fand keep each address updated correctly. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9593"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15138,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15137\/revisions\/15138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/isso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}