H4 to F1 Change of status taking over 7 months

[Geetesh Iyer]

My wife who started school (MS in Analytics) last fall, applied for her Change of Status (from H4 to F1) on July 1 , 2017. It has been over 7 months and she has not received the F1 VISA. The tracking website says the information is updated only until Nov 30 and they are still process applications for April (Vermont center).
owing to this she is unable to apply to jobs/TA/GA

1. Is anyone else having this situation of crazy delays? I know the average is ~4 months but it has been 7 months and no updates yet.
2. The University is now changing the i-20 dates to a current semester since it has been over a semester and the change of status has not come through. Will this have a negative impact (given that you are expected to be on a visa for at least 1 year before getting a job?)

Any guidance/thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks!

[rajgoaj]

My wife who started school (MS in Analytics) last fall, applied for her Change of Status (from H4 to F1) on July 1 , 2017. It has been over 7 months and she has not received the F1 VISA. The tracking website says the information is updated only until Nov 30 and they are still process applications for April (Vermont center).
owing to this she is unable to apply to jobs/TA/GA

1. Is anyone else having this situation of crazy delays? I know the average is ~4 months but it has been 7 months and no updates yet.
2. The University is now changing the i-20 dates to a current semester since it has been over a semester and the change of status has not come through. Will this have a negative impact (given that you are expected to be on a visa for at least 1 year before getting a job?)

Any guidance/thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks!

I can see the minimum wait time is 8 months as of now and expect it to grow.
There is no impact in changing i-20 days rather than USCIS asking for new i-20 through an RFE. And to my knowledge, it is not required to be in F1 for 1 year to get job rather it is on any visa but should've been a student.

Please post if you have any updates on your case.

[bskat]

Hello
Even I am in the same situation . I applied for a COS from H4 to F1 on Sept 1st 2017 at CSC. I am a full time student. My case status is still showing "Case Received" . I see from other discussions that COS from H4 to F1 is taking 8 to 9 months at CSC. I am completing my course by August 2018. Going by the 8 months timeline, I think I can get my F1 approval by April / May 2018.
1) In this case can I apply for OPT , since I complete my course by Aug 2018? To apply for OPT is it required to be on approved F1 for 1 year ?

[smrslm21]

COS from H4 to F1

Hello bskat,

Have you received your F1 yet? Please let me know ASAP.

I have applied for COS from H4 to F1. The received date was October 30th 2017 at CSC. My H4 visa is expiring in April 2018. It has been over 4 months since I applied for F1 change of status. I am doing second semester of my Masters.

Please let me know if you received your F1 so that I can calculate with that timeline for my F1.

Thank you

Hello
Even I am in the same situation . I applied for a COS from H4 to F1 on Sept 1st 2017 at CSC. I am a full time student. My case status is still showing "Case Received" . I see from other discussions that COS from H4 to F1 is taking 8 to 9 months at CSC. I am completing my course by August 2018. Going by the 8 months timeline, I think I can get my F1 approval by April / May 2018.
1) In this case can I apply for OPT , since I complete my course by Aug 2018? To apply for OPT is it required to be on approved F1 for 1 year ?

[bskat]

Hi smrslm21
No I did not . It is taking 8 to 9 months for csc

[pm87]

The wait is common right now. My wife applied in July 2017 and is still pending. Right now, they are processing April 24, 2017 applications, if the website is to be trusted.

Please keep checking with your International Offices in Universities as the websites is rumored to be pretty outdated.

[garota850]

we face very similar situation but in our case we filled COS J to F.. and after 8 months we still waiting! Please lets change information! any updates from you?

[Sami.k]

Hello All,

I am in similar situation.
case received on 3rd August 2017. No updates yet.
It's very frustrating. If anyone has any update, please post here.


Can I abandon this petition and appear for VISA interview in INDIA? And it gets approved, can I apply for internships as soon as I come back to USA?
I am a full time student from Fall 2017.


Thanks in advance

[awatingf1]

Updated I20

Hello,

I applied my change of status (F1 from H4) application in June last year. I am still waiting to get my approval.

Meanwhile I have received a new I20 from my university. The dates on this new I20 are different than the one I submitted along with my application.

If anyone knows where and how to send updated I20, please let me know. It will be of great help.

Thank you

PS - New I20 has an "end date" that's later than my first I20

[Geetesh Iyer]

No updates yet

Hello folks,
I know there is a ton of us in this boat but I am not seeing any update. This is pretty frustrating to say the least.
It says its processing May 6th 2017 currently. We are considering that my wife go back to India for an F1 visa interview but not sure .

Please keep sharing any updates .

[sramgrk]

Hello folks,
I know there is a ton of us in this boat but I am not seeing any update. This is pretty frustrating to say the least.
It says its processing May 6th 2017 currently. We are considering that my wife go back to India for an F1 visa interview but not sure .

Please keep sharing any updates .

Hi guys,

we are in the same state. any update from guys who applied in mid-2017? I didn't see any responses for travel back to India for a possible F-1 Visa interview. On checking with my wife's international students office, they say that it comes with its associated risk. Same was told by an Immigration lawyer.

Kindly share any available update.

[h4tof120]

Hi smrslm21
No I did not . It is taking 8 to 9 months for csc

hello,

I applied for change of status in Aug'2017 at CSC. I havnt received any update yet.

Has any one received update from CSC lately. Website is showing they are processing Dec 2017 applications but i havnt received any update yet.

Help is truly appreciated.

[h4tof120]

H4 to F1 CSC

HI All,

I applied for change of status in Aug 2017 at CSC. The processing time for CSC is 4.5 months currently processing Dec 23 2017 applications.

But i havn't received any update yet. Raised 2 service request with generic responses.

Has anyone recently received update from CSC or has idea what dates they are actually processing ?

Thanks!

[SapnokiRani]

My wife who started school (MS in Analytics) last fall, applied for her Change of Status (from H4 to F1) on July 1 , 2017. It has been over 7 months and she has not received the F1 VISA. The tracking website says the information is updated only until Nov 30 and they are still process applications for April (Vermont center).
owing to this she is unable to apply to jobs/TA/GA

1. Is anyone else having this situation of crazy delays? I know the average is ~4 months but it has been 7 months and no updates yet.
2. The University is now changing the i-20 dates to a current semester since it has been over a semester and the change of status has not come through. Will this have a negative impact (given that you are expected to be on a visa for at least 1 year before getting a job?)

Any guidance/thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks!

Did you get your F-1 now? VSC is starting to accept applications from May 2017, so yours should be pretty close.

[Geetesh Iyer]

Went to India. Got F1 Visa

Hello folks,
Given the incredible confusion and delays caused by the COS process, we decided to go to India for Consular process and got the F1 Visa approved. We spoke to two lawyers, both of whom suggested it was 50:50 but still contended that given the uncertainty, it might be worth the try. I also read about a few cases who had gone back and got their F1.

I know this is a hard decision, but we were more interested in having clarity rather than hanging in here. I guess it would boil down to one's appetite. Either ways, I hear that people have started getting decisions on May 2017 cases. I hope people find these helpful data points.

Thanks a lot and Good Luck!