San Antonio Student Visa Lawyer

The main benefits of the Student Visa are:

1. Live and Study in the USA

With the F1 visa you and your immediate family will be able to legally live and study in the USA. Your immediate family includes your spouse and your unmarried children under the age of 21. When you get an F1 visa, your immediate family members are issued a visa called the F2 visa, which means that they are in the USA as dependents of an F1 Student.

2. School for Children

Children will have access to schools in the USA, everything from pre-kinder to high school, with their F2 visa.

3. School for Spouse

Your spouse, with the F2 visa, will have access to study in the USA, including part time at colleges and universities.

4. Driver’s License

You and your spouse will be eligible to apply for US Driver’s Licenses.

5. Work in the USA

With the F1 Visa, university/college students you may be employed at on-campus jobs.

6. OPT (Optional Practical Training)

With the F1, university/college students are eligible to stay 12 months or more, post-graduation, to work in the US as a way of obtaining real world on the job training.

There are 4 general requirements to obtain a Student Visa:

1. You must be accepted as a student in an academic educational program. This includes universities, colleges, private high schools, private elementary schools, seminaries, conservatories, and other academic institutions such as language-training schools.

2. You must be enrolling as a full-time student.

3. You must be able to speak English, or be enrolling to take English courses.

4. You must be able to financially support yourself during the duration of your academic studies without the need to work. For instance, if the total cost of living (rent, food, etc.) and schooling (tuition, books, etc.) is $20,000 per year, then you must be able to afford $20,000 a year.

The F1 Visa application process is as follows:

1. Document Checklist

Once you start the process, the first thing our immigration attorney will do is provide you with a very detailed checklist of the documents needed to prepare your F1 Visa application. This checklist is custom made to your particular situation and therefore very important because it spells out exactly what will be needed from you to complete the application.

2. Prepare Student Visa Application

Once we have received the requested documents, we will prepare your F1 application.

3. Interview with US Consulate

The last step of the student visa process is the visa interview with the US Consulate. Once your application is ready, we will schedule the interview appointment for you and your family at the US Consulate in your home country. Prior to this interview, you will have an interview preparation session with our immigration attorney to help guide you. This preparation will make you feel a lot more confident and confortable during your interview.

Generally, the Student Visa is generally granted for the duration of the course of study. So if you enroll in a 4-year university program, your Student Visa will be issued for 4 years. However, your stay in the US can be automatically extended if you need an extra year to finish your studies.