<p>ah, thanks GrimTango. that interview sounded pretty easy.</p>
<p>Congrats Tango. I just got my I-20 form yesterday so I need to set up my appointment pretty soon.</p>
<p>wow thanks grimtango!! :)!!
I'm still waiting for my I-20, so I guess I still have like 3 weeks to prepare well for the interview...</p>
<p>Thanks a lot! I get my I-20 end of this month, so probably next month.</p>
<p>The ONLY thing to learn from tango's message is that : do NOT apply for a student visa using the I - 20 of a school you do not plan to attend. IF YOU GET A STUDENT VISA USING THE I-20 OF ONE SCHOOL AND THEN ENROLL AT ANOTHER SCHOOL IN THE US THEN YOU ARE VIOLATING VISA LAWS.</p>
<p>It says so right in the booklet "If you want to study in the united states part four" from the website "educationusa.state.gov"</p>
<p>ditto on mangoluverin's post. </p>
<p>I am not visa/immigrantion expert but I do know that Embassies who grant visa and Customs and Borders (at the airports) who allow someone to enter US belong to two totally different government branches and don't always agree on the same rule. The fact you get a visa doesn't mean you be allowed to enter US at the border. E.g. if you have a student visa going to SUNY-Buffalo but Miami (FL) is your final destination, that will definitely raise a red flag to C&B officers. Beware!</p>
<p>Tango, buddy, accepting your I-20 from another college than the one you'll be attending is a BIG, BIG, BIG mistake. I've been in the US for two years now and know this, they DO USE the I-20 for other things than just letting you into the country.</p>
<p>Your college will use it to confirm your status.
The US immigration service and other governmental branches will use it to confirm your location, full-time student status, and tax owed.</p>
<p>There is no, I repeat, absolutely no way you can get away with this without getting expulsed from the country, possibly for a very long time. Your college will catch it and in the best case send you back to get a new student visa (which will have your college name on it for chrissake!) or - in the worst - report you for having come into the country on fraudulent grounds.</p>
<p>Fix this before you do anything else! And fix it NOW!</p>
<p>Also, your visa and college enrollment status will depend on your SEVIS id (I-20). If the college name on the I-20 doesn't match with the one you'll be going to (which will ask you for all of this paperwork, and proof of your visa etc), you won't even be able to enroll at this other school. </p>
<p>I've no idea what you were even thinking. Your entire stay in the US depends on proper and honest paperwork, from day one you get there until you leave. I have to report the slightest change of address within 10 days of moving - what made you think they wouldn't notice or care about the college on your visa not matching with the one you're (well, you won't be able to) attending?</p>
<p>I think Tango's didn't know he is awarded a $10K scholarship. I would suggest talk to ISO offices at both schools to figure out the best course of actions, possibly another trip to the Embassy. :)</p>
<p>Yeah, definitely, and asap. The problem is that it might be much harder to get that second visa approved. I hope you can sort this out without having to go to SUNY instead of your first choice -- I didn't mean to sound harsh back there, it was a knee-jerk reaction to the troublefree way you treated something that would certainly sabotage your plans if you went ahead with it.</p>
<p>"The ONLY thing to learn from tango's message is that : do NOT apply for a student visa using the I - 20 of a school you do not plan to attend."</p>
<p>where are u planning attending tango??!</p>
<p>"I'm not going to study at Stony Brook, I'm accepted at NYU too and just yesterday when I was at the interview they sent me a $10000 scholarship aswell. But since I did not have the I-20 from them just yet. I used Stony Brooks I-20 for SEVIS and the interview. The point is, no matter which uni you are going to attend, but really get to know about the one whose I-20 you are using."</p>
<p>i can't believe i missed this paragraph too. </p>
<p>why would anyone do this?? what's the hurry anyway? I mean most of us haven't even receive our I-20 and will not until maybe sometime later this month or early next month... god u gotta do something about this. it's either u go SUNY or somehow talk your way out of this (which is much more complicated and may risk getting nowhere), but bottomline is u gotta go to the college which keyed in your data into the SEVIS database (i.e. the I-20 you used). Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think NYU will find out your misdeed when they attempt to key in your data into the COMMON SEVIS database. They will know because they won't be able to key into the database until STONY undo your record, I think. So you gotta sort out this problem, quick. You can probably try to say the $10K scholarship changed your decision... but you'll really need a glib tongue to talk yourway through the embassy considering the relative high rejection rate at your country.</p>
<p>GOD! I was gonna do the same Tango!.. I already have 2 I-20s, but I'm just too paranoid to do it!. I read somewhere ur not able to do that! but some people say you can. I don't know though.</p>
<p>andriuxs, those people are wrong. There is no way, just as a basic fact of how the visa-enrollment relationship works, to enroll at a college without a correct SEVIS id and I-20 that matches the name of the school. They can't let a student enroll and sign up for classes without confirming to the federal government that the student is present, has a proper I-20 issued, and a correct visa. </p>
<p>When you get your F-1 visa, it explicitly states what school you are enrolled at; this is the only school that can verify you being in the country legally. Again, the I-20 isn't just some paper you wave at the customs, it's a document that is connected to your specific college and makes for the entire basis of you being in the country - which is dependent on you being a full-time student at that college, and that college only. It's impossible to enroll, and impossible to stay in the country unless your college has the proper paperwork to show to the government.</p>
<p>what the...?? people are actually mixing up their forms deliberately to get a visa quickly?!?!?! how come the embassy didn't notice the discrepancy then?????
and how can a single student have so many I-20 forms??? only the college where you enrol sends you the I-20 , isn't it?? i'll probably get my I-20 in early june...from only one college.</p>
<p>Yeah, why are colleges sending you guys I-20s unless you've already enrolled?</p>
<p>Much the same for me. Berkeley had a form online that required information specifically for the I-20; I couriered additional financial verification forms and I should be getting my I-20 in late May/early June like the rest of you.</p>
<p>Every college that accepts you will send an I-20 with their signature on it (I only applied to one, single, school the first time around, so please correct me if I'm wrong), but you only hand in the I-20 of the one you'll be enrolling at when getting your visa. This is why they don't ask for your letter of acceptance when issuing the F-1 to you, the I-20 is the one paper they need to assert your student status and keep tabs on your stable location within the country.</p>
<p>frrrph, not quite. I was accepted to 5 different schools (albeit across two application years) and none of them sent me the actual I-20 along with the acceptance package. Most of them do attach the I-20 REQUEST form though, which you have to fill up and send back before the college can process your data into the SEVIS database and issue you the I-20. It's the same for all my friends... I've never heard of anyone receiving an automatic I-20 and definitely not along with the acceptance package. Some made it convenient through an online portal, but most others involve some kind of hard copy request form along with letters to certify your financial status... Then again it's a really basic form and I would imagine the college has all the data anyway so it's just a formality which perhaps some colleges decide to dispense with.</p>
<p>I recieved an I-20 form from U Wisconisn - Madison along with my acceptance package. I hadn't enrolled and have no intention of enrolling either.</p>