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Hello,
My wife is currently on h4. She has already completed 1 semester of studies in full time masters program. She is traveling to India for summer vacation.
We wanted to convert her status to f1 so she can be eligible for internship after a yr.
Her university is suggesting that since she is traveling to India, she can directly book a visa appointment for F1 from India. No need to do a COS (i-539) from USCIS.
The university has handed to her I-20.
However the visa agent we have used in past, is very certain that we need a USCIS approval. According to him, I-20 alone is not sufficient and a COS must be done and approved by USCIS before getting a visa appointment.
Looking at online forums, I see most of the threads are about COS via mail, but I haven't seen anyone (with existing H4 and already enrolled in univ) directly getting a F1 visa from the consulate.
Is the agent right or can we apply for F1 visa directly without a USCIS approval?
Thanks!
My wife is currently on h4. She has already completed 1 semester of studies in full time masters program. She is traveling to India for summer vacation.
We wanted to convert her status to f1 so she can be eligible for internship after a yr.
Her university is suggesting that since she is traveling to India, she can directly book a visa appointment for F1 from India. No need to do a COS (i-539) from USCIS.
The university has handed to her I-20.
However the visa agent we have used in past, is very certain that we need a USCIS approval. According to him, I-20 alone is not sufficient and a COS must be done and approved by USCIS before getting a visa appointment.
Looking at online forums, I see most of the threads are about COS via mail, but I haven't seen anyone (with existing H4 and already enrolled in univ) directly getting a F1 visa from the consulate.
Is the agent right or can we apply for F1 visa directly without a USCIS approval?
Thanks!
