if you're a permanent resident, can you apply for a temporary visa? - Page 2

galoisien · 04-28-2008, 11:48 PM

I'm asked to send my documents to two places: the admissions office and the financial aid office. I was just wondering if it was possible to get two statuses at once ....

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I think you should seriously consider taking a semester off to work before college.

Would work-study not suffice...?

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Have you talked to the fin aid office and explained your situation?

I've been calling them all month but usually it's with busy tones (and I don't have the opportunity to try often since school hours coincides with office hours) and I'm going to try again tomorrow.

I can't afford to call long-distance so naturally I have to borrow the school phone on my free periods ... and all my eight blocks are used up so I only get mine three out of every ten days.

I haven't applied for any visas -- I was just wondering *if* it was possible.

b@r!um · 04-29-2008, 12:01 AM

Nothing against work-study but you will not be able to use work-study to pay for the renewal of your card - because you won't be able to do work-study before you have a valid card (work-study is subsidized by the federal government and therefore only available to US citizens and confirmed PRs).

How are you going to pay for your books at the beginning of the semester? Most of my textbooks (math, econ, sciences) are between $100 and $200 each and we need the current editions because professors assign homework right out of the textbooks. (Admittedly though books are a lot cheaper in some other subjects - most notably philosophy where the texts you read cost $5-$15 each and are available online for free!) You are able to resell your books at the end of the semester to get most of your money back but you still need a good amount of money initially.

How about e-mailing the fin aid & admission offices?

swimcatsmom · 04-29-2008, 12:02 AM

I do not think it is possible or a good idea to attempt to apply for a visa if your Status is permanent resident. You could get yourself into a big mess. Also you have to be a permanent resident to qualify for any federal aid. Do not start messing around with your resident status in this way or you may end up with worse problems than financial aid.

You have a computer so you have access to email. Email your school with your problem and ask their advice. Do it as soon as possible - tomorrow. Or even now. Perhaps if you explain the situation it may even be possible to get some sort of waiver on the deposit.

If there is no way around the unexpired green card then they will tell you that and you will have to figure out what to do next. If you live somewhere near an INS office perhaps it would be worth taking the time to go and talk to them. Getting a new green card takes several months I believe but I think they can give you temporary documentation that would probably satisfy the school. I don't know if you would be able to do this without paying the fees (which i agree are very high).

The first thing is to contact the school and explain the situation. Do that now. Good luck.

swimcatsmom · 04-29-2008, 12:08 AM

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But suppose I did apply for a visa, through proxy and such -- when they look at granting visas I suppose they might check for previous applications and history and such, but they wouldn't anticipate a PR applying for a visa?

When you apply for a visa they investigate you and require information about you - where you live, police record searches etc. If you attempt to get a visa from elsewhere while you are living here that will involve lying to the immigration people which is breaking the law - a very risky thing to do which could jepardize your current legal status. Do not do this.