Skip to main content
International Student and Scholar Services
Banner with the word visa showing with an actual visa background
overrideTextColor= overrideCardAlternateTextColor= overrideDisableBackgroundImage= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overrideCardShowButton= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText=

What is a visa?

  • A U.S. visa is only an entry document that is applied for at a U.S. embassy or consulate.
  • When approved, it is placed in your passport certifying that you are eligible to travel to a U.S. port of entry and seek admission in F or J status.
  • At your port of entry, the CBP (Customs and Border Protection) officer will review your documents and determine if you are eligible to enter the U.S.
  • Note: Canadian citizens are exempt from the entry visa requirement.

About your U.S. visa

  • You may continue to travel and re-enter the U.S. until your visa expiration date.

    more

  • If your visa expires while you are in the U.S., it has no effect whatsoever on your status.

     However, if your visa is expired when you leave the U.S. to travel abroad, you will need to renew your visa at a U.S. consulate or embassy to return.

  • You may continue to use an unexpired visa in an expired passport when:

    • it is in an expired passport and you travel with both your expired and valid passports
    • it was issued for a previous school you attended and you travel with a Form I-20 or Form DS-2019 from BYU

  • Visas can be issued only at U.S. consular posts abroad.

    If your visa expires, you must apply for a new entry visa at a U.S. consular post during your next trip abroad, with exceptions for Automatic Revalidation in limited circumstances for trips to Canada, Mexico and certain adjacent islands. In addition, if you lose your passport, you cannot replace the visa in a new passport inside the U.S.

  • You can have more than one visa in your passport, but you can enter the U.S. in only one status.

    If you have visited the U.S. for different purposes, you may have more than one visa in your passport. The visa which is used for your admission to the U.S. becomes the status you will hold.

What is the difference between your visa category and your lawful status?

One of the most common sources of confusion is the difference between your visa in your passport and your lawful status.

  • VISA: Your visa is an entry document. When you present your passport, visa and supporting documents at a U.S. port of entry, you are admitted in a nonimmigrant status that matches the classification of the visa in your passport. This is also referred to as "immigration status" or “visa status”.
  • LAWFUL STATUS:
    • Lawful status to be in the U.S. as an non-immigrant F or J student or scholar which is documented on your electronic I-94 Arrival Record or I-797.
    • It is obtained when you are admitted by a CBP Officer (I-94), OR
    • is applied for by submitting an application to USCIS after entering the U.S. in your current status (I-797 which is a paper I-94).
    • Once you have obtained your status, you must observe the requirements to maintain your legal nonimmigrant status, you could lose it and be required to leave the U.S.