International students who have relatives or families in the United States might want to stay with them during the break. Among them, some students might plan to take summer/winter sessions to get extra credits from colleges and universities that are close to them.

Or some international students might be interested in traveling to different states to attend short-term programs during the break including the Summer Intensive English program or online certificate programs to improve their English and professional skills.

Students, who are interested in these scenarios might be questioning if international students can take classes from different colleges or universities than the ones that issued their Form I-20s.

The short answer is yes but there are some conditions that international students should be aware of. The regulation related to this scenario is about the annual vacation and concurrent enrollment. By reading this blog post, students who…

• would like to take classes that are not offered in their home universities during the annual vacation (summer/winter)
• would like to graduate early by taking classes during the breaks
• would like to save some money by enrolling in community college classes at least during the breaks as tuition and fees of community colleges tend to be cheaper than general 4-year colleges.

will be able to better plan their studies during the summer/winter breaks.

Disclaimer: SEVIS SAVVY delivers information based on the visa/immigration regulations and this is no legal advice by any means. Since institutional policies may vary, getting confirmation from your international student advisor will be helpful to ensure that you comply with institutional policies and processes.

Contents

• Case study scenario
• Regulation based answers

Case study scenario

Q: Hello, I am attending a 4-year college but I would like to take some classes during the break from a community college in a different town. Can I, an international student, take classes from different colleges/universities, immigration-wise? Also, how can I make sure to transfer back the credits that I am going to take at the community college?

Regulation based answers

Annual Vacation

If you have been following the SEVIS SAVVY blog posts for a while, you would know by now that international students must be compliant with immigration regulations to not go out of status. Some of the examples are taking a full course of study, making a progress toward the completion of the study, etc. To learn more, click the following related blog post:

Related blog post: International students, be aware not to go “out of status”

Thankfully, the rule gets loosened for summer and winter breaks- international students are considered to be in status during the annual vacation per immigration regulation 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(iii) given that the student is eligible and intends to register for the next semester:

(iii) Annual vacation. An F-1 student at an academic institution is considered to be in status during the annual (or summer) vacation if the student is eligible and intends to register for the next term. A student attending a school on a quarter or trimester calendar who takes only one vacation a year during any one of the quarters or trimesters instead of during the summer is considered to be in status during that vacation, if the student has completed the equivalent of an academic year prior to taking the vacation.

8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(iii)

Therefore, if the student is eligible for the annual break (summer or winter vacation), the student can take either in-person or online classes at any school. In the same vein, international students don’t have to be enrolled full-time during the summer/winter.

International students, who are interested in taking summer/winter classes from other SEVP universities or colleges are encouraged to reach out to their DSOs to see if they are eligible for annual vacation. Some universities or colleges might want to let international students take summer/winter classes at the different SEVP schools through concurrent enrollment even if students are eligible for the annual vacation.

If the student is not eligible for annual vacation, and thus, must enroll full-time during the summer, she or he can take advantage of the concurrent enrollment to take classes in summer or winter at different SEVP schools. Concurrent enrollment allows students to take some credits from the home university and some credits from other SEVP-certified schools.

The total of credits that the student is taking from the home university and the other university should be equal to the full-time course of study (Note that the definition of “full-time” for the annual vacation might not be 12 or 9 credits. To confirm, check with the new school to see how many credits are considered “full-time” during the official school breaks.). To learn more about concurrent enrollment, click the first related blog post.

Related blog post: Can international students be enrolled in two universities at the same time?

If there are no classes that international students would like to take from the home university and thus they don’t want to utilize the concurrent enrollment, they can transfer the I-20 to the new school during the breaks and transfer it back to the home university after the vacation. It is worth noting that students who transfer to a different university should take full-time classes. To learn why students have to take full time when they transfer the I-20 during the annual vacation, click the following related blog post.

Related blog post: Can international students start in the summer? 3 Things to consider

How to transfer back your credits

Lastly, how can international students make sure that their credits can be transferred back when they come back to their home universities?

The first step is to review the courses that you plan to take with your academic advisor– please note here the review should be done with academic advisors, not international student advisors. In most cases, the responsibilities of international student advisors do not intertwine with academic advisor roles. If you are not sure to whom you should reach out to review the courses, you may reach out to the ISSS office and see to whom you should reach out to make sure that the credits that you are going to take can be transferred back into your degree program at your home university.

In summary, international students can take summer or winter classes from different SEVP-certified schools as long as they are eligible and willing to register for the next term through the annual vacation rule. If the student is interested in concurrent enrollment or transferring the I-20, international students are encouraged to communicate with an Academic Advisor for the credit articulation and International Student Advisor (DSO) for SEVIS reporting requirements.

All other F-1 related information can be found on the F-1 visa information page. If you are interested in applying for jobs and internships, go to the CPT/OPT page.