N D - refusing to continue attending classes will result in your I-539 for F-1 status being denied as that action would be in violation of your I-20, which is a basis to be granted the F-1 visa. you could also be flagged as performing immigration fraud.

most of the students in the same situation do not even start the schools. As I understand, this really depends on the institution.

well, your institution made you start school. play along. they're following their rules, not other institutions' rules.

well the thing is that everyone in the same situation gets surprised when they hear I already started studying even though I didn’t get my case approved yet. that’s what made me think if I should have it paused till I get the approval

consider yourself one of the lucky ones and thank God for it, if your school wants you start, I agree with Lilo, start. so you can avoid wasting time in your waiting unless you have other plans during your waiting period

N D you shouldn’t start the school before you get the visa no matter what and actually my friends visa was about to get terminated because of that reason so wait and don’t listen to them

what was his previous status? a J1?

he was on a B1/B2 but i think it doesn’t matter .. you just can’t start without your visa

Khaled - you're right. on the other hand N D's situation is tricky too because of the change of status pending. but as a rule of thumb, N D, it is best to consult with an immigration lawyer. the change of status shows intent to study but it's not a straightforward situation with the I-20 and the school making you start now. another thing that you can do is instead of refusing to start school, ask the school to push back your enrollment to spring semester, or summer. it's better for your case than just refusing to attend school.

lilo it does make sense what you saying but i just called him and he told that he even got a notice to leave the country cause he started without the visa and the school didn’t say anything about that. they just wanted him to start the school to pay. and after he called a lawer to cancel the process and filed an appeal that he didn’t know that he can’t start untill he get it

what I meant by refusing is to push my enrollment to the Fall 2022 since I am hoping to get my visa approved till then.

Khaled - Oooh, thank you for the explanation. now it all makes sense. 🙂 N D - yes. now I get it. I thought you were plain refusing to attend school. 😂 you did right to push your starting date. the steps you've taken show good intension to do things the right way with immigration. I hope that melts USCIS' heart and they approve your F1 status. 🤗

I haven’t pushed my starting date yet actually. I already finished one semester but I would like to push the rest since I don’t wanna be paying before I get my visa approved because they won’t refund it if I get rejected.

N D - that is understandable. if you attended school on J1 and now you want to stay in school on F1, you're right to put a hold on studying until you are approved for F1 as the intents of J1 and F1 are different. and the school should understand that too and should not force you to enroll if that's putting you in jeopardy with immigration. you could actually sue them for that.

lilo exactly and that’s what i told my friend that he should’ve sued them for that just for not telling him not to register

haha, Khaled. fact. and that's a suit that N D would win, too, and they'd pay for your legal efforts in that suit as well, N D! 😂

https://www.ice.gov/doclib/sevis/pdf/Nonimmigrant%20Class%20Who%20Can%20Study.pdf guys apparently it’s not problem to start studying while changing status from J1 to F1.

N D - I thought so, hence my very first comment. but we are never too sure. thank you for sharing the link! 🤗 as long as you are in good standing with immigration, that's what matters most especially if you'd want to stay in the country permanently later on. 🙂

Same situation here, I’m still waiting for my F1 approval. I received RFE this October and I submitted all the documents. it’s been 2 months now and they don’t have any response yet. My starting school date is on January 2022. 😩

i submitted in July, no news so far. I have started in August 2021. My university said I could start while waiting for the approval.