Good morning, good afternoon, good evening all,
First and foremost, I hope that you are all well and safe!! I have wonderful news to share with you!!!
On Friday, July 24th, there were new guidelines issued for continuing F-1 students regarding Fall 2020. You are now able to take your classes online from home and not lose your F-1 status. That means that I do not have to terminate your SEVIS record IF you enroll in online classes from back home. I hope that you will consider this when making your plans for Fall 2020.
If you plan to return to campus, classes will be a combination of in-person, hybrid (both in-person and online) and online. Regardless of whether you will be remote or in-person, you still need to take a minimum of 12 credits as an undergraduate student and 9 credits as a graduate student to maintain your full-time status.
Those of you who still plan to take a leave of absence for Fall 2020 and not enroll in any classes, I will still have to terminate your SEVIS record since you will not be in attendance. We can request that your record be activated for Spring 2021, subject to SEVP approval.
I will be contacting you next week for confirmation of your plans for Fall 2020 so that I can update your records accordingly.
For now, this is great news!!!
Take care, stay well and safe!
Debbi