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The F-1 visa is the main route for people who come to the United States to study. It covers academic programs at colleges, universities, seminaries, conservatories, academic high schools and similar institutions, and it also covers intensive English and other language training programs. Vocational and technical training belongs to the M-1 category instead, and study that forms part of an approved exchange program belongs to J-1.
An F-1 case does not begin with the government. It begins with a school. Only institutions certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program may enroll F-1 students. Once a school has admitted you and is satisfied that you can pay for your studies and living costs, it creates a record for you in SEVIS, the database that tracks international students, and issues you a Form I-20. After paying the associated SEVIS fee, you use that I-20 to apply for the visa at a U.S. consulate and, later, to ask to be admitted at the border.
The school stays involved for as long as you are enrolled. A designated school official maintains your SEVIS record and has to authorize many of the things you may want to do, including issuing an updated Form I-20 when your program needs more time, transferring to another school, dropping below a full course load, or working. Staying in close contact with that person is the most reliable way to protect your status.
Two ideas run through every F-1 rule. The first is that you are here to study. You must pursue a full course of study, only a limited amount of which may be online, and you must make normal progress toward finishing your program. The second is that F-1 is temporary. You are expected to leave when your studies end, and at the visa interview you will generally need to show that you have a residence abroad you do not intend to abandon. F-1 does not offer the dual intent treatment available in some work categories, so any plan that leads toward permanent residence needs careful timing.
For decades F-1 students were admitted for duration of status, meaning the Form I-94 carried no end date and a student could remain as long as he or she kept studying and complying with the rules. That is changing. Under a final rule published on July 17, 2026 and taking effect on September 15, 2026, F-1 students are admitted instead for a fixed period of time.
The fixed period is the time needed to complete the program of study shown on your Form I-20, and it may not exceed four years, no matter how long the program itself takes. A short wrap-up period follows the end of the authorized stay so that you can prepare to depart or change status; the rule shortens that period from sixty days to thirty days.
The practical consequence is that time no longer takes care of itself. If your studies will run past the date on your I-94, you must ask for more time before that date arrives. Your designated school official issues an updated I-20 with a new program end date, and you then file an application to extend your stay with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which carries a filing fee and a biometrics appointment. USCIS must actually receive the application before your authorized stay expires. If you file during the thirty-day wrap-up window, you may continue studying while the application is pending, but you may not work and may not continue practical training.
An extension is not automatic. You will generally need to show that you have stayed in status, that you are pursuing a full course of study, and either that time remains on your program as reflected on the I-20 or that a documented reason justifies more time. The rule recognizes compelling academic reasons, medical reasons, and circumstances beyond your control such as a natural disaster, a national health crisis, or the closure of your institution. It expressly does not accept academic probation or suspension, or a repeated inability or unwillingness to finish the program.
Students who are properly maintaining F status on September 15, 2026 and who were admitted for duration of status are not cut off on that date. They may remain until the later of the program end date on the I-20 or the expiration of an employment authorization document, subject to an outside limit of four years from September 15, 2026 plus the previous sixty-day departure period, which works out to November 14, 2030.
One point survives the change: what governs your stay is your record of admission on the electronic Form I-94, not the expiration date printed on the visa in your passport. The visa controls travel to a U.S. port of entry; it does not control how long you may stay, and it may expire while you are lawfully here. After September 15, 2026 the I-94 should show a specific date, and that date is the one to watch.
The same rule tightens how freely students may move between schools and programs. Below the graduate level, a student generally may not transfer to another school or change major or degree level during the first academic year. At the graduate level, a student may not change educational objectives at all and may not transfer without an exception from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. Completing a program of study after September 15, 2026 also bars a further period of F-1 status at the same or a lower academic level. The Department of Homeland Security has reserved the ability to delay these mobility provisions, potentially as late as September 14, 2028, so their timing should be confirmed before you rely on them.
The pages below take the practical questions one at a time: the general requirements for the category, how to start the application, how long you may stay, whether and how you can work, traveling outside the United States, extending your stay, bringing a spouse and children, and the particular limits that apply to studying at a public school.
This page is general information, not legal advice. The rules described here changed significantly in 2026, and requirements and procedures for student visas continue to change, so they should be confirmed against current government guidance and individual circumstances should be discussed with an attorney.