H4 to F1 conversion doubts

[sindhunkashyap]

I am on H4, live in California and have an admit and i20 from San Jose State University. I am planning to apply for a CoS in the next few days. My spouse and my parents are sponsoring my finances.

 

I have the following questions. Please help me. 

 

- Since my parents are in India, i only have a scanned copy of the letter of support with my mother's signature. The rest of the financial documents from the bank are original. Should i ask my parents to post the letter of support to me with their signature or is the scanned copy sufficient? The signature on the scanned copy is pretty clear.

- Is it still necessary to fill up the Affidavit of Support for CoS? If yes, should both my sponsors fill up the form or just my spouse?

- For my case, how much time would it take for CoS? I need to get a CoS before Aug 24, the day school starts, or i will not be eligible for internships.

- How safe is it to go to Vancouver/Toronto to get F1 stamped if CoS is not a quick option? I just came from India 3 months back, going to India for stamping would not be very feasible.

Please recommend.

[t75]

COS before school starts is unlikely based on recent reports of processing time. You can try for stamping outside of India, but returning to India IS FEASIBLE - you just do not want to do it.

 

Internships are not generally available from the start of classes. So unless you have the offer of an assistantship which does require F1 in hand, you are worrying unnecessarily. You MUST have adequate funding so do not use the excuse that you need to work and thus need F1.

[sindhunkashyap]

I understand that internships will not be available from day 1. But i can apply for OPT here only if i have finished 2 full semesters as a full time student on F1. This is the information that the International Office at the university gave me. I would definitely consider applying for internships after finishing a couple of months since it will give me a good amount of work experience while studying. That's the reason i would like to convert to F1 soon.

 

I have checked on the USCIS website that the current processing time for I-539 is 2.5 months. Is this likely to change in the next few months?

[jairichi]

 

I have checked on the USCIS website that the current processing time for I-539 is 2.5 months. Is this likely to change in the next few months?

Even though it says so in website the current processing time is 3 - 4 months.

[t75]

Any program will take more than 2 semesters.