A student who has failed to maintain status may apply to US Citizenship and Immigration Services to be reinstated to lawful F-1 status. Reinstatement is only granted under limited conditions and in the discretion of USCIS.

Conditions for approval of reinstatement

USCIS may consider reinstating a student to F-1 status if the student can prove the following:

• The student has not been out of status for more than 5 months prior to filing for reinstatement (unless he or she can show that there were exceptional circumstances that prevented the student from filing during the 5-month period)
• The student does not have a record of repeated violations
• The student is pursuing, or will in the next available term be pursuing, a full course of study
• The student has not engaged in unauthorized employment
• The status violation resulted from either:
  • Circumstances beyond the student's control; or
  • Failure to apply in a timely fashion for a reduced course load authorization from the DSO, but only if the violation relates to something that would have been within the DSO's authority to have approved, if it had been timely done, and that the student would experience extreme hardship if the application were not approved.

If USCIS approves the reinstatement application, the student's SEVIS record will indicate the approval and the school will receive an e-mail notification of the approval.

If USCIS denies the reinstatement application the school will receive notification of the denial via e-mail. The student then must depart the United States immediately.

A denial of an application for reinstatement cannot be appealed, although a motion to reopen or reconsider may be filed if warranted.

For information on how to apply for reinstatement, please contact IPS at isu-ips@mail.indstate.edu

Click here to download  F-1 Reinstatement application.