I-130 confusion

[alissa_sam 0]

Hi everyone!

I am a little confused about what to answer at question 14 (I-130). I arrived as a student and as an expiration date on my I-94 they wrote D/S. My visa expires in December 2013 in my passport, but in my I-20 it already expired in January 2012.

What would be the correct answer for this? D/S,

December 2013,

or January 2012 ?

Thank you so much!

[didopage 337]

"Admission to the U.S. and your Duration of Stay

Upon arriving at a port-of-entry and when admitted, a CBP officer places a small white card, Arrival-Departure Record, Form I-94 or a small green card, Form I-94W for VWP travelers, in your passport. This card is very important as it shows permission to be in the U.S. On this card, the CBP officer records either a date or duration of status (D/S) in the lower right hand corner. If your I-94 or I-94W contains a specific date that signifies the date you must exit the U.S. Some students, exchange program participants, and temporary workers (e.g., foreign diplomats) will be admitted for D/S. If you have D/S on your Form I-94, you may remain in the U.S. as long as you continue your course of studies, remain in your exchange program, or qualifying employment. The date or D/S notation, shown on your Arrival-Departure Record, I-94 or I-94W is the official record of your authorized length of stay in the U.S. You cannot use the visa expiration date in determining or referring to your permitted length of stay in the U.S."

(http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/info/info_1298.html)

The question 14 asks for the date shown on Form I-94 or I-95, not I-20, so I would write "D/S".

Edited September 26, 2012 by didopage

[alissa_sam 0]

"Admission to the U.S. and your Duration of Stay

Upon arriving at a port-of-entry and when admitted, a CBP officer places a small white card, Arrival-Departure Record, Form I-94 or a small green card, Form I-94W for VWP travelers, in your passport. This card is very important as it shows permission to be in the U.S. On this card, the CBP officer records either a date or duration of status (D/S) in the lower right hand corner. If your I-94 or I-94W contains a specific date that signifies the date you must exit the U.S. Some students, exchange program participants, and temporary workers (e.g., foreign diplomats) will be admitted for D/S. If you have D/S on your Form I-94, you may remain in the U.S. as long as you continue your course of studies, remain in your exchange program, or qualifying employment. The date or D/S notation, shown on your Arrival-Departure Record, I-94 or I-94W is the official record of your authorized length of stay in the U.S. You cannot use the visa expiration date in determining or referring to your permitted length of stay in the U.S."

(http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/info/info_1298.html)

I would write "D/S".

Thank you very much!!!

[didopage 337]

I edited my message, don't know if you saw it. Question 14 asks for the date shown on form I-94 or I-95, not I-20 or visa.

Edited September 26, 2012 by didopage

[littlechewy 0]

Hi everyone!

I am a little confused about what to answer at question 14 (I-130). I arrived as a student and as an expiration date on my I-94 they wrote D/S. My visa expires in December 2013 in my passport, but in my I-20 it already expired in January 2012.

What would be the correct answer for this? D/S,

December 2013,

or January 2012 ?

Thank you so much!

I don't think you put DS there. What is your current status? You said your I-20 expired I assume you are no longer enrolled in school, because if you are currently enrolled in school, you are supposed to have a new I-20 (school issues a new I-20 every time the old one expires for as long as you are in school). DS means Duration of Status, which refers to the duration of your study so your authorized stay ended when you I-20 expired. I would put the date on your expired I-20.

If you are still a F1 or F1 on OPT, you should have a valid I-20 unless you fell out of status.

[didopage 337]

The question asks for the date shown on the I-94, not on the I-20 (otherwise that would have been stated). Simply follow what it says, the USCIS knows what D/S means.

That's also the most popular answer found by doing a Google search on this question (lots of different topics found on the net)...

[littlechewy 0]

The question asks for the date shown on the I-94, not on the I-20 (otherwise that would have been stated). Simply follow what it says, the USCIS knows what D/S means.

That's also the most popular answer found by doing a Google search on this question (lots of different topics found on the net)...

D/S means the duration of your status. The OP is a F-1 student, so the duration of their status is the duration of their study. As in the law cited above, "Some students, exchange program participants, and temporary workers (e.g., foreign diplomats) will be admitted for D/S. If you have D/S on your Form I-94, you may remain in the U.S. as long as you continue your course of studies, remain in your exchange program, or qualifying employment." --> the date on your I-20 is a proof of your authorized stay.

They don't put a specific date on I-94 for F-1 because F-1 are allowed to stay for as long as they need to in order to complete their study. Say two people study the same program but the one who takes summer courses will graduate sooner than the one who doesn't.

I have D/S on my I-94 (F-1 OPT), the date I put on question 14 of I-130 is the expiration date of my OPT I-20.

I think your I-20 expiration date would be the correct answer but say if you put D/S, USCIS probably knows to look at your I-20 to figure out the duration of your authorized stay.

[didopage 337]

I know what D/S means, I had a visa with that annotation too.

Either way, I think it doesn't matter. Some people put D/S, some put a date, in the end they were all fine.