What should I do if I got a “stay limited “ on visa page?

[Thsona 0]

I’m a Chinese who just graduated from my college in China. And I decided to keep studying in the untied state. But my situation is pretty complicated because I don’t have my high school degree and I wanna restudy as a college student in the United State. So I have to come to America in person before I get F1 visa as a tourist. But the police stop me at the airport and just write a “staylimated” on my passport. After I got to the place I live in Florida , i started to get the information of how can I get to a college if I don’t have high school degree in America. Then I found out I have to take the GED exam and there is no classes for GED in China which means I have to study in America , but I need like 3 months to complete it and I have to take the tofel exam also at the same time . It’s not enough for me to finish all the studying if I leave at the date the polices want me to leave. Can I stay without leaving and just change my b1 visa to f1visa in America  ? Do I really have to  follow the order ?

[payxibka 10,047]

Changing from B2 to F1 is very difficult.  You should contact the international office of the University, but I think you need to plan on departing and getting the F-1 from home

[KurosawaSan 52]

Others pretty much have already covered the bases - you need to leave before the date specified to you by CBP. 

 

You should not take GED or anything else that can be considered as a misuse of your status - that will be a big red flag. You will need to go back to China, and then re-apply for a student visa, depending on the acceptance to an academic program in the US.

 

You absolutely must follow the rules, otherwise this will bite you in very bad ways in the future.

Edited January 29, 2018 by KurosawaSan

[Thsona 0]

2 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Changing from B2 to F1 is very difficult.  You should contact the international office of the University, but I think you need to plan on departing and getting the F-1 from home

I got the support from my family which means my parents are goona pay for my college . But I just need more time to finish my GED courses . And I don’t really wanna go back home to change the type of visa cause I’m afraid of flight and people always think you should come back unless  you really did great jobs after you leave your hometown. I really can’t take it cause I feel humiliated. Can I stay here longer than the stay limited for my GED courses and changing visa ?

[KurosawaSan 52]

 

10 minutes ago, Thsona said:

I got the support from my family which means my parents are goona pay for my college . But I just need more time to finish my GED courses . And I don’t really wanna go back home to change the type of visa cause I’m afraid of flight and people always think you should come back unless  you really did great jobs after you leave your hometown. I really can’t take it cause I feel humiliated. Can I stay here longer than the stay limited for my GED courses and changing visa ?

DO NOT start any educational courses on B1/B2. The visa has its clear purpose - tourism/business visits. It's not for education. You engaging in education activities will automatically void your status, and it will be reason for denial for future visa applications. I cannot stress this enough  - DO NOT BREAK IMMIGRATION RULES.

 

It's too bad that you feel embarrassed to go back - it sucks, I get it, but that's not going to fly with immigration officials. You need to respect the status given to you by the visa and depart on time. You cannot stay longer, and you cannot change visa in a short time. The worst thing you can do is file for a change of status, and then fall out of status while waiting - that will be reason for the denial of your change of status application, and you will have to go back anyway, and this time won't be granted a visa back.

Edited January 29, 2018 by KurosawaSan

[jan22 3,056]

50 minutes ago, Thsona said:

I got the support from my family which means my parents are goona pay for my college . But I just need more time to finish my GED courses . And I don’t really wanna go back home to change the type of visa cause I’m afraid of flight and people always think you should come back unless  you really did great jobs after you leave your hometown. I really can’t take it cause I feel humiliated. Can I stay here longer than the stay limited for my GED courses and changing visa ?

You indicated that even the GED course will take longer than your authorized stay.  So, even if you would stay and complete it (and putting aside for the moment that it is  likely a violation of your B2 status to even take the course), you wouId be out-of-status as well as an over-stay.  Any application to change your status would be denied.  You need to leave the US before your authorized stay expires if you want to ever have a hope of studying in the US.

[Boiler 45,934]

You have to be in Status to change Status.

[Thsona 0]

Hello, I have a question, more like a problem of my Visa. I came to US at November 24th with B1/B2 Visa. But at the airport , the border police stopped me and asked me questions about my plan and my information. After all, they let me go but told me that I could only stay in US within 90 days. Which means I must leave America before Feb 23rd. And there is a written note on my Visa page says “ Stay Limited”. One of my purpose of the trip to Florida is to take a Look at the college which I am going to apply . My question is if I could have the Offer from the university and gain a I-20 visa before the limited date, do I still have to leave America before February 23rd? If no, am I able to come back with a I-20 Visa? 

[Boiler 45,934]

I will ask one of our friendly mods to merge this with your other thread.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

1 hour ago, Thsona said:

I got the support from my family which means my parents are goona pay for my college . But I just need more time to finish my GED courses . And I don’t really wanna go back home to change the type of visa cause I’m afraid of flight and people always think you should come back unless  you really did great jobs after you leave your hometown. I really can’t take it cause I feel humiliated. Can I stay here longer than the stay limited for my GED courses and changing visa ?

If you are doing GED on a B1/B2 visa, I believe you are in violation of status already. Immigration authorities don’t care about what your friends and family back home think about your social status, they care about your legal immigration status. If you are already doing GED, which is what I understand from what you said,  you may have already earned yourself a denial on any F1 application, whether within (you can't legally do if you’ve violated status, which it sounds like you have ) or from without the country.  

 

Officially, by doing what you have, you are not eligible to change status ... “Enrolling in a course of study while in B-1/B-2 status will result in a status violation.  Individuals in B-1 or B-2 status, who have violated their nonimmigrant status by enrolling in a course of study, are not eligible to extend their B status or change to F-1 or M-1 status. These regulations provide no exceptions.” 

https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/students-and-exchange-visitors/students-and-employment/special-instructions-b-1b-2-visitors-who-want-enroll-school

 

Edited January 29, 2018 by SusieQQQ

[TBoneTX 45,910]

Similar-themed threads merged.

[SusieQQQ 11,587]

By the way, a 2-second google search shows that although you cannot take the GED test itself online, there are plenty of online prep courses. Suggest you go home, complete the courses online, then return to the US to take the test in person...hopefully you’ll still have a valid visa to use then.

[Boiler 45,934]

You can take it however outside the US.

 

Seems not in China.

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

14 hours ago, Thsona said:

Hello, I have a question, more like a problem of my Visa. I came to US at November 24th with B1/B2 Visa. But at the airport , the border police stopped me and asked me questions about my plan and my information. After all, they let me go but told me that I could only stay in US within 90 days. Which means I must leave America before Feb 23rd. And there is a written note on my Visa page says “ Stay Limited”. One of my purpose of the trip to Florida is to take a Look at the college which I am going to apply . My question is if I could have the Offer from the university and gain a I-20 visa before the limited date, do I still have to leave America before February 23rd? If no, am I able to come back with a I-20 Visa? 

Avoid shady (visa mill) universities.  No reputable university would grant an I-20 without eligible criteria being met first. 

[ShanghaiSurfer 135]

You might want to consider going to an English language school. After receiving the F-1student visa from language school you can also study for GED while going to language school. 

 

I understand saving face is a big thing in China. I'm sure you can come up with an excuse of why you had to go back to China for a few months to save face. Better to do that then try to do something shady with US Immigration.