Very Important Documents O I-20 Form O Passport Please do not lose any of these documents. They can be hard to replace and can be costly.

Maintaining your immigration status  Maintain a valid passport  Maintain a valid I-20 Form  Maintain full time enrollment  No unauthorized employment  Obtain travel signatures  Report address changes over summer session

Maintain a valid passport O Check to insure that your passport is still valid. O Six months prior to your passport expiring, you should contact your country’s embassy in Washington, DC to start processing an extension. You can find information on your country’s embassy contact information at O If you have a valid visa in the expiring passport, your country will attach the expired passport to your new passport so you are still able to use the valid visa. They will invalidate all the other pages.

Maintain full time enrollment O You must be registered as a full-time student (be taking at least 12 credits) for every semester you are enrolled at MHC. O If you need to drop below full-time enrollment (generally only allowed for documented medical reasons), you must see Jenny or Donna before dropping below full time. Failure to do this will result in our office having to notify the immigration service that you are out of legal immigration status.

I-94 Arrival/Departure Card O You can print your I-94 card at the Customs and Border Protection website: O You will need your name, date of birth, passport number, date of entry into the US, class of admission (for most F-1 students). O If you are a transfer student and have not left the US, you might still have the old version of the I-94 (white card in your passport). Please make sure to keep this in your passport it costs $300 to replace. You will give up this form the next time you leave the US and you will be issued an electronic I-94 upon re-entry.

US Visa Stamp

I-20 Form

Travel signatures before leaving the U.S. O You should bring in your I-20 form for a travel signature from either Jenny or Donna at least one week before you will be traveling outside the U.S. O We will send reminder messages about this during peak travel times (October Break, December Break, Spring Break, summer) O On page 3 of the I-20 it states that travel signatures are valid for one year. However, we have found that if you are traveling outside the US more regularly, the immigration officers would like to see signatures for each semester.

No unauthorized work O On-Campus: If you are at MHC on the F-1 student visa, you can work on campus up to 20 hours a week when school is in session and full time during J Term and the summer. The Village Commons and Stony Brook Childcare are not considered on campus employment. O Off-campus Employment: you can not accept any off-campus employment without permission from the Immigration Service or the McCulloch Center O There are two types of off campus work permission for F-1 students but you will not be eligible for either until you have been enrolled in F-1 status for one full academic year and have a declared major. Any work you do off campus must be related to your academic major. O We will have an information session about off-campus employment later this fall. We will send you a reminder .

Applying for a Social Security Card O Needed for application -Valid passport -I-20 form -Employment letter from on-campus employer. Please visit our website for the template of this letter. It must be on the letterhead of the department you will be working for. -Support letter from McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives O Representatives from the Social Security Administration will be on campus on Friday, September 26 th from 12:30-4:30 pm in 318 Blanchard to accept applications for social security numbers. If you do not apply during at this time, you will need to go to the SS Office in Holyoke at 200 High Street. There are no buses that go to this office, so you will need to find your own transportation.

COPYING OF VISA DOCUMENTS Please bring your visa documents (I-20 form, passport) to the McCulloch Center so we can make a copy for your file and for your social security application. You can bring them in Monday – Friday between 8:30-2:30

Income Tax O Due Date? O April 15 or June 15 O Who Files? O All international students, spouses and children over 14 years whether you have worked or not. O How Much? O Withholding according to W-4 O Tax treaty benefits O Social Security withholding O Fines? O Underpay, Late filing, Fraudulent claim O Pay Too Much? O Get it back from employer or IRS O Help? O IRS Website O GTP software free to MHC international students

P.O. Box ____ Blanchard Campus Center South Hadley, MA 01075

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