Students who have been admitted to the United States in F-1 status have certain obligations that must be met in order to maintain lawful immigration status. Failure to do so results in your being "out of status" or "in violation of status" and the need to be "reinstated" to lawful F-1 status by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS).
When is reinstatement necessary?
Reinstatement is necessary when any of the conditions of maintaining status have been violated.
To maintain status, you must:
Keep your passport valid
Register Full time every semester
Not work without authorization
Limit authorized employment (both on and off campus) to a total of 20 hours per week while school is in session
Apply for a program extension before the completion date on your I-20, if you need extended time to complete your current program
Follow specific USCIS procedures to authorize your change of educational program or level.
Follow specific USCIS procedures to authorize your transfer to another school in advance of registering at the new school.
Notify the International Student Adviser of any change of address within 10 days.
Reinstatement will be possible only if you:
Are pursuing or intend to pursue a full course of study
Have always had proper authorization while being employed
Have not been out of status for more than 5 months
Can establish that the violation of status resulted from circumstances beyond your control or that failure to be reinstated would result in extreme hardship, and you are not deportable on any other grounds.
To apply for reinstatement you must meet with an International Student Adviser.
SUNY New Paltz
1 Hawk Drive
New Paltz, NY 12561
877-MY-NP-411 (toll free)