Student Visa To Usa

[awill50]

My wife's nephew want to continue his eduction in the USA. Can anyone tell me the requirements? He is Thai, previous 2 years of Thai college education, unmarried, owns property and has a business, speaks little english. I can vouch for, and support him. He wants to get a BS in EE.

[teacup]

Here is some general idea. I can only speak from my experiences

- He needs to pick out where he want to study EE (electrical engineering?), ask for the minimum TOFFL requirement, pass it (you can take it in BKK), then send in the complete application. Once got accepted, then apply for F1 - visa at the US embassy. The embassy will check who will be financing his study - 4 years at least, that person must have a strong financial background

- He also needs to show at least the first year of living expense (tuition+room and board) ($12500.00 for me at that time), this can be done by bringing the money with him in form of cashier check, the immigration will check for this at his first port of entry. He then will need to report to the immigration yearly, with some paper works to fill out.

- Least likely he will be in the electrical engineering department once there. He will only be in pre-major, this is what they call it here. If any of his classes from Thailand can be transferred, the school will either transfer the credits or require him to take the placement test. I would imagine only a few to NONE of his classes from Thailand can be used.

And doesn’t matter of his TOFFL result, almost always the school will require you to retake the exam again (this will be done at the school - according to their standard). Depending on the result, he may have to take additional English classes to supplement his language skill, this will take any where from 1 quarter - 8 quarters. Remembering back, I think I spent 2 quarters.

He will need to take many prerequisite classes to get in the major.. Normally this major is very competitive, only the best of the best students can get in - if he can get all of his prerequisites classes of 3.6 GPA or better. He will most likely be competing with many Chineses, Vietnamese, and Indians. So be prepared for his second choice of major.

Judging by the thai school standard, I would assume he will need an average of 5 yrs to get his degree, this if he’s very focused on his study.

Tuition fee: As an international student - he needs to pay about

2x more expensive than the residents - so so colleges

3x more expensive - in any top 20 ranks

At the port of entry he also will be given the temp social security card - with the stamp of maximum 20 hrs work/wk, so he can work to supplement his financial while in school.

I can only speak from personal experiences some years ago, and all other issues are too lengthy to describe here in detail. I will gladly fill in any specific questions you have or concerns.

TC

Edited June 3, 2008 by teacup