Tourist Visa to a student visa?

[Machita 1]

My friend has a tourist visa that has one year left in it. He is thinking about coming here and go to ESL (English classes). Can he come to the US on his tourist visa and once he is here apply to a school and change his visa type to student visa?

[milimelo 4,743]

My friend has a tourist visa that has one year left in it. He is thinking about coming here and go to ESL (English classes). Can he come to the US on his tourist visa and once he is here apply to a school and change his visa type to student visa?

No, for studies he needs to get a student visa.

[sachinky 465]

No, he will need to apply to a college/university, get accepted, apply for a student visa and be granted a F-1 visa.

You cannot convert visas.

Edited March 16, 2010 by sachinky

[Brother Hesekiel 2,236]

I'm not sure what the "one year left" really means, but I assume you mean he has a B2 that is valid another year.

You are not telling us much, but your friend can come over on a B2, "explore" to visit high schools and colleges (note that high school attendance is limited to 1 year total), and fill out applications. Once he meets the requirements and a college accepts him as a potential student, he can apply for a student visa. So much for the general part.

I assume your friend just wants to improve his English skills. The best (cheapest) place for that would be a community college. However, as a non-resident he cannot attend, and he won't qualify for a student visa as he's not really pursuing any form of higher education, which is linked to a certain amount of units.

Hence, the answer is no. No, your friend cannot enter the US on a B2 visa, take a class or two of intermediate English, and gain some form of limited legal residency in the US. If that were possible, hundreds of thousands of people would be coming to the US to improve their English skills and at the same time are allowed to live here, as long as there are English classes taught in the country.

Edited March 16, 2010 by Just Bob

[JERIII 8]

There's some misinformation in this thread, I think.

First, you CAN apply to convert a visitor visa to a student visa. This is one of the advantages of the visitor visa over the visa waiver program. It does take time.

That said, your friend will need to be accepted into a program that can give him an I-20, and will need to have the funds to pay for the schooling. It will need to be "full-time," although the definition of that is complicated.

The question of whether or not he can go to a community college is not straightforward, but depends on the state. Non-residents are certainly eligible to go in some places (I know lots of international students who have gone to community colleges), but they are usually not eligible for financial aid or for in-state tuition rates.

[Sc0tt28 26]

My friend has a tourist visa that has one year left in it. He is thinking about coming here and go to ESL (English classes). Can he come to the US on his tourist visa and once he is here apply to a school and change his visa type to student visa?

Yes, your friend can enter as a visitor (B-2) as long as your friend makes it clear that he is coming in as what is called a "prospective student". There is a box on the back of the I-94 that the CBP officer should mark to indicate that the person is coming in as a prospective student. Also, the visa only being valid for a year doesn't really matter even if he is staying for longer than a year. Automatic visa revalidation will apply as long as he meets a number of criteria:

1) Cannot have applied for a new visa

2) Cannot leave contiguous territory (Canada, Mexico, and Carribean islands except for Cuba)

3) Cannot be gone from the US for more than 30 days

As long as those things are met, he can still enter with his visa even if it is expired.