On verge of leaving and coming back on January?

Colleges & Universities University of Alabama
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<p>Okay…I am in a really critical situation. Many of you will probably know about my visa issue.</p>

<p>I already contacted Senator for the help a few days ago, and I know I can’t just expect a miracle…</p>

<p>today is the last day for the late registration and my visa is STILL NOT APPROVED! (OH dear lord. Why are you doing this, USCIS? You gave visa to two people who applied later than I, but you wouldn’t give mine?)
I also talked about this visa issue with the international office and admission office A LOT, and there is nothing that anyone of us can do…</p>

<p>I already talked to the Housing about the issue I have: if I don’t get my visa my admission/scholarship will be deferred to next semester, and i have to move out, rot in my home in Oregon for 5 months and come back…
Another problem is the airfare. Right now it’s like 560$ for ONE WAY from Birmingham to Portland, OR, and the price will drop drastically starting from 9/11. 560$ in USA just for one way is too much…</p>

<p>I already got a permission from a housing department staff who manages Paty Hall to stay at least a week here to figure out what to do, but here is the question…will they charge me for staying another week? I mean, it’s like I am having to move out because of the situation that’s far beyond my control, yet the airfare is hitting high the sky…</p>

<p>Has anyone seen this kind of situation, in which a student-regardless visa issue or not-has to move out because of the situation he/she can’t handle? My family is very stressed now…only relieving part is that I dont have to re-apply for the
visa, and can have my visa even tho I am not going to school during Fall semester…</p>

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<p>so sorry to hear this! I know someone whose entire file was lost at the INS. LOST! They had “no idea” what happened to it! He had spent months gathering all the appropriate records and applications, yet some govt bureaucrat was careless, and it was all for nothing. Have you thought about getting a job in town and earning some money while this is resolved? </p>

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<p>My visa prohibits the job, so that’s not the option. I wish I could have a job and stay here :-(</p>

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<p>If Housing could let you stay until Sept 10 the fare goes down to $200. It might be worth asking.</p>

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<p>^right?
But I m afraid that I would get less reimbursement if I stay until then…</p>

<p>Really, I feel as if I were alienated from the world, sitting in my room alone while all my friends go to classes. </p>

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<p>I was thinking of you earlier today, Paul, and wondering how things had turned out. I am so sorry you weren’t able to get things resolved for this semester.</p>

<p>If you want to know if you’ll be charged for staying another week, ask housing. Explain your situation, tell them EXACTLY how long you need to stay, and ask if (a) it would be possible and (b) if there would be any charge. Get the name of the person you speak to, and ask them to confirm their answer in an email, so you have a record.</p>

<p>Your other option would be to see if someone might have a spare room in an off-campus apartment where you could stay. But you’d probably need to pay them something for a two-week stay, and you’d also have to buy food. In the end, you may not save any money at all.</p>

<p>You can save yourself some money, though, by arranging a departure time that allows you to take the bus or train to get into B’ham, instead of having to pay for a cab.</p>

<p>Also, now that classes have started, there are a lot of people commuting back and forth to B’ham. You may want to check [url=<a href=“http://zimride.ua.edu/]Zimride[/url”>http://zimride.ua.edu/]Zimride[/url</a>] to see if you can find a ride.</p>

<p>

You are kidding, right?</p>

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<p>It makes me feel bad to read about your situation becuase I know from the number of posts that you’ve made here, how much effort and pasion you have put into making this work.</p>

<p>“Really, I feel as if I were alienated from the world, sitting in my room alone while all my friends go to classes.”</p>

<p>However please don’t feel like this!!! If you have to go home for a semester, please do something you have the same passion for. My son used to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. Use a resource like volunteermatch and find something to make the semester go by more quickly. There are MANY organizations that would be grateful to have someone like you help them even for a brief time, plus it offers experience that you can add to a resume.</p>

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<p>Thanks all @jrcsmom‌ and @dodgersmom‌ </p>

<p>I will definitely ask if there are some charges for staying extra days. I will ask Blake( current Head RA) and Kyle(Housing staff member for Paty).</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>This is ILLEGAL!</p>

<p>Paul, I’m very sorry about your situation. Dealing with a huge federal bureaucracy can be frustrating, but it’s entirely possible your case was more complicated than that of the other students you’re talking to. The fact that you were already here in the US going to high school (as opposed to filing from overseas) could mean that your application was processed by different people. There’s no way to know for sure unless you can get someone in USCIS to explain the situation to you. Regardless, the reasons are moot for the time being. You need to figure out the cheapest and least stressful way to get yourself home to Oregon. </p>

<p>Personally, if you were my son, I’d send you the money and tell you to come home immediately. If a few hundred dollars is a deal-breaker, then I think you need to reconsider going to school so far from home. There are always going to be unexpected expenses and you don’t want to spend the next four years living in fear of running out of money. Even with all the wonderful scholarships, going to school in Tuscaloosa for an out-of-state student is not inexpensive. Travel costs have to be considered, and you need to budget for worst-case scenarios to be safe on the safe side!</p>

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<p>If you do have to leave and come back, please contact Scholarships to MAKE SURE that they will still give you that award in January. They may not. They may make you wait until next Fall. Contact them IN WRITING and SAVE the email response. </p>

<p>Contact
<a href=“mailto:amber.capell@ua.edu”>amber.capell@ua.edu</a></p>

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<p>Thanks @LucieTheLakie‌ </p>

<p>You are right. I know it may sound weird saying “560$ is a lot for us”. Technically my parents would get 560$ somehow-like y’all awesome parents would for their children- but I just try to do my best to lessen the expense…you know, filial duty(?)?</p>

<p>I chose UA not because it was a good school with great offers in scholarship and academic opportunities, it was the ONLY choice left for me. Lewsi& Clark offerd me 26000$, but their COA w/o dormitory is still 56000$…(are you kidding? you are not even top 50 liberal arts school)
As a foreigner, I am not a resident of any 50 states,and as many of you know, there is just no way to get an In state tuition unless you are on business visa(J visa? or B Visa…IDK)</p>

<p>Also, OSU or U of Oregon don’t have awesome scholarship like UA does. They give money around 11k, but hello…that doesnt even cover the tuition. U of Oregon does have Full Ride option but it’s primarily reserved for citizens…there was no way that I could get it because I am a good student but not a super stellar student. That’s why I chose the UA: 100,000$ for International student is an excellent deal! Where else would you get this kind of money? Only Ivy or very few other school would…For such reason, I really thank the school for this opportunity. </p>

<p>@mom2collegekids‌ thanks for reminding. I already talked with Charter Morris, the director of the International student, about this issue and I was told that the scholarship will be deferred as well. That’s the relieving part, but I will make sure with Ms. Amber Capell. </p>

<p>Oh and for a bit diverging, some of you may wonder why I am in the USA struggling with money while I could stay in my home country, having all the citizen’s privilege.
Because it’s worth struggling in America :slight_smile: I worked hard for last 5 years in America, and even though things for now didn’t turn out as I wanted it to, and even though I didn’t get into other ‘better’ schools, here I am, meeting awesome people in my high school, getting helps from some of my teachers in high school, meeting new peeps in UA and awesome parents like all of you in this forum, and lastly, 100,000$!(again, it’s quite hard to get this amount of scholarship as a foreigner)</p>

<p>I may struggle a lot now, but I am very sure that it will pay off in the future.</p>

<p>Thanks, y’all.</p>

<p>If anything new about my visa comes out, I will post ASAP…</p>

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<p>I am still totally confused as to why a university would allow an international student without a visa in hand to register, let alone move in to the dorms. Something very wrong with a process like that, and it surprises me given how many hoops there were to jump through for regular students just in order to register for orientation.</p>

<p>In any case, sounds like you have a good attitude about it, and that you will still have your scholarship once you return.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you.</p>

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<p>@chesterton‌
University does NOT and should NOT allow student without appropriate visa(which I don’t have) to register. It’s illegal. I am not registered now. Didn’t I write that I can’t go to classes because of that? </p>

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<p>@‌chesterton</p>

<p>this student hasn’t been able to register.</p>

<p>as for moving into dorms… for those who attend the last BB session, they are “moving in” before they register in many cases. </p>

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<p>In defense of @chesteron, @paul2752, I think a lot of parents are slightly horrified that UA allowed you to move all the way across the country and into your dormitory BEFORE you had your visa situation straightened out. </p>

<p>Most of our kids went through Bama Bound and registered for their classes before moving in, but even for those coming from great distances and doing registration just prior to classes beginning, I’m doubting the vast majority had anything along the lines of a visa situation waiting to be finalized that could have prevented them from registering. </p>

<p>The only thing comparable I can think of is if a parent neglected to pay the tuition bill, keeping the student’s tentative schedule from being finalized. So I, too, am a little surprised UA allowed you to move in before you had your new visa in hand because of the risk of something like your current predicament happening.</p>

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<p>^@LucieTheLakie </p>

<p>If I had had choice of going to BB on July or June I would have gone on July, but the school told me that I had to </p>

<p>attend International student orientation, and it was a day before the last BB…and I thought that it would be better , </p>

<p>one, to finish both international orientation and last Bama Bound at once than flying once on July and again on August. and two, move in a week earlier to get used to building locations.</p>

<p>in fact, i think almost all int students came to last BB because of int orientation…which was quite a waste of time </p>

<p>for me because I already knew the policy of foreign students.</p>

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<p>@chesterton and others need to realize that this was a highly unusual situation. Most international students are just that - international. Unlike Paul, they do not already live in the U.S., and they need a visa just to enter the country. Obviously, if any of those students have a problem getting a visa, they would never make it to campus. I’m sure many of them have visa issues also . . . we just don’t ever hear about them.</p>

<p>As for a student moving into their dorm prior to registration, my student did the same thing, as I’m sure, hundreds of others did also. Camp 1831, Alabama Action, and the international student orientation that Paul mentioned - all of these activities take place prior to the final Bama Bound sessions. So a lot of students move into their dorms, pay their own way in the dining halls, and attend these activities prior to registering.</p>

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<p>^True, many international college students directly come from foreign countries. Well there are also many foreign students who live in US since they were young or since middle school, but yeah, many foreign college students come directly from their home countries. </p>

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<p>THanks yall</p>

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<p><<<<
parents are slightly horrified that UA allowed you to move all the way across the country and into your dormitory BEFORE you had your visa situation straightened out.
<<<<<</p>

<p>I agree that letting a student move into a dorm before the visa comes thru was risky. They probably don’t face many situations where the int’l student is ALREADY in the country. Usually the int’l student is abroad and therefore can’t even enter the country w/o the visa. This may have been the first situation of its kind that Bama has faced. </p>

<p>I give Bama a break on this situation because they probably felt it heartless to have the kid essentially homeless once he arrived w/o his visa in place. </p>

<p>As for “letting him move across the country”…lol…Bama had no control over THAT. He is here legally and can come and go into any state as he pleases…he doesn’t need a univ’s permission or directive.</p>

<p>The school doesn’t likely have a system in place where “in country int’ls” are warned, “don’t come here until your visa is processed because…”. And, with the cost of airfare dependent on advance purchase, everyone (school and student) was between a rock and a hard place…assuming that the change would come thru and therefore advance tickets purchased. Naturally everyone assumed that the feds would process his changed visa status in time.</p>