International student - change to Permanent Resident - QUESTION

[Foreigner]

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Hi all,

I have a question about changing one's immigration status once in medical school. Lets say you begin as international student, and you change your status to permanent resident at some point. For the school purposes, are yo u now elligible for Finanical aid, scholarships,... etc that permanent residents are elligible for, or is it, that if you start as international student you finish as international, no matter what your legal immigration status is?

I guess it sounds confusing. Has anyone done this? I would love to chat with you and get more information.

Thanks!

 

[synapse lapse]

I don't have a definitive answer for you , but it seems to me that since you would be a resident you could fill out fafsa, and thus be eligable for federal loans. Since financial aid is evaluated on a yearly basis, I think you could get loans/scholarships the year following conversion. However, I am not sure because I know foreign students must have the bank account guarenteeing funds for school for all 4 years, and I would imagine some contractual agreement is involved there which may have provisions for this.

 

[MeowMix]

The biggest issue is getting a green card in the first place. If you came in as an international student on an F1 visa, I don't see how you could switch to being a permanent resident during med school unless something special happened. You either apply as a family member of a US citizen, or you apply with sponsorship from a prospective employer; unless you come from a country that doesn't send many immigrants to the US, you are probably looking at a multiple-year wait if you are just a regular Joe.

There is also a subtle issue connected with the difference between F1 (temporary student visa, you are supposed to leave the country when you finish your studies) and green card (permanent). Once you demonstrate to the INS that you are on a temporary visa but want permanent residency, everything becomes very tricky. If you leave the country without the proper paperwork and they know you have a green card app in process, they will not let you back in.

Also, you have to do a ton of paperwork and wait 6-12 months for a green card, even if you have everything lined up perfectly on an employer sponsorship, and have people writing letters about how it is in the best interests of the American people for you to stay and work in the U.S..

Your best bet would be marriage or the green card lottery. If neither of these is an option, then do some research online. It may be worth waiting a few more years if there is any chance that you can get a green card, because you will save so much money and have the scholarship opportunities.

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hi all,

I have a question about changing one's immigration status once in medical school. Lets say you begin as international student, and you change your status to permanent resident at some point. For the school purposes, are yo u now elligible for Finanical aid, scholarships,... etc that permanent residents are elligible for, or is it, that if you start as international student you finish as international, no matter what your legal immigration status is?

I guess it sounds confusing. Has anyone done this? I would love to chat with you and get more information.

Thanks!

I was in this position last year - submitted AMCAS as an international, and became a PR after that. I just called the schools I was most interested in who told me to send a copy of the PR card to them. A couple of them also accommodated this change via questions on their secondary application. Unless the school has a policy of not accepting internationals (and, assuming you did not apply to those), you should be fine in terms of admission. For federal loans and school scholarships (paper work which is filled out a few months before being accepted), you definitely need to prove PR status. I was told that I absolutely needed to have the PR card; an alien registration number would not suffice. Good luck!