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1. The student applies for a visa.

• The student contacts the consulate or embassy and sets up a visa interview appointment.
• The student pays the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) fee. The SEVIS fee is a $100 fee that every person applying for an F-1 visa after September 1, 2004 must pay before going to the visa interview. It can be paid:
• Electronically, by completing Form I-901, Fee Remittance for Certain F, M, and J Non-immigrants, through the Internet (www.FMJfee.com) using a credit card.
• Through the mail, by submitting Form I-901, together with a check or money order drawn on a U.S. bank account and payable in U.S. currency
  • Information about the SEVIS fee can be found at http://www.ice.gov/graphics/news/factsheets/SEVISFactSheet.htm
• The student visits the consulate or embassy with the following documents:
  1. SEVIS I-20.
  2. Valid passport.
  3. Financial documents.
  4. Letter of admission from school.
  5. Receipt showing payment of the $100 SEVIS fee.
• The student completes the visa application.
• Every American embassy/consulate works from the same set of regulations and laws but may adapt procedures for its location.  All students applying for an F-1 visa will be required to attend a visa interview. If the visa is approved, the student is given an F-1 visa stamp in the passport.
• The visa is a stamp in the passport indicating where the visa was issued, the date the visa was issued, the date the visa will expire, the number of entries, the type of visa, and the visa number. A newer type of American visa is a machine-readable paper stamp that is glued to a page in the passport.
• When the student collects the passport with the visa, he or she will also be given a sealed envelope containing the I-20.

2. On the flight to the United States, the student is given an I-94 (which includes three sections: the instructions, the arrival record card, and the departure card) to complete.

3. At the port-of-entry, the student presents the immigration officer the following:

• Valid passport with valid visa.
• Sealed envelope with SEVIS I-20.
• Completed I-94 (all three sections).
• Any other requested information such as financial documents or admission letter.

4. The immigration officer:

• Returns the valid passport with valid visa and an INS entry stamp.
• Returns the departure record card with and entry stamp (usually stapled in the passport).
• Stamps the SEVIS I-20 and returns I-20 to the student.
• Returns any other requested information.

5. At the ESL Center at Mississippi State University

• The student presents the I-20, I-94, passport, and visa stamp.
• The student provides the manager with a local address.
• The manager of the ESL Center registers the student in SEVIS.