The United States has a high quality of education and is one of the top countries for parents to send their children to study abroad. The following is a list of information aboutNew entry policy for studying abroad in 2023Jiyang U.S. Study Abroad Policy, ,The latest U.S. study abroad policy was introduced、What is the US study abroad policy in 2023?U.S. Study Abroad Policy in the Wake of the Epidemic, ,U.S. Department of Education Study Abroad Policy for ChinaThe problem.
1.2023 New Entry Policy for Studying Abroad
1. New U.S. Immigration Policy
The United States has currently announced that international students holding valid F1/M1 visas who meet the requirements that their institutions are scheduled to start after August 1, 2021, can enter the United States with a visa within one month before the start of school indicated in the admission letter.
International students who meet the above conditions no longer need to fly to a third country for 14 days of quarantine before flying to the United States.
II. Epidemic Prevention Testing Requirements
According to the current epidemic prevention and testing policy, those entering the United States still need to provide a negative nucleic acid test report issued within 72 hours before departure.
At the same time, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends (but not requires) passengers to undergo another nucleic acid test as soon as possible within 3-5 days after entering the United States.
After entering the country, unvaccinated people need to be quarantined for 10 days and vaccinated people need to be quarantined for 3 days.
For passengers who have been vaccinated (vaccines approved by the U.S. FDA and vaccines approved for use by the World Health Organization (including Sinopharm vaccines and Sinovac vaccines"), they do not need to be quarantined after entering the United States and only need to conduct personal self-monitoring.
Passengers who have not been vaccinated but have undergone nucleic acid testing within 3-5 days after entry are advised to self-isolate for 7 days and monitor symptoms. If nucleic acid testing is not performed within 3-5 days after entry, it is recommended to self-isolate for 10 days and monitor symptoms.
III. Vaccination requirements in American schools
In addition, American universities have new regulations regarding vaccination issues.
It is reported that 240 American universities, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Washington, Boston University and other universities, have made regulations on mandatory vaccination in the fall semester.
Since many Chinese students have been vaccinated in China, in order to reduce the burden on students and avoid the impact of repeated vaccinations, many American universities have expressed their recognition of the Chinese new crown vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Entry materials/aircraft preparation items
1. Original old and new passports with visa stamps
2. Original I-20
3. Original ID card
4. Original copy of Offer & Admission Contract
5. Physical examination and immunization certificate (small red book & small yellow book)
6. Original transcripts of the last three years
7. Overseas examination transcripts: TOEFL, SSAT, SAT1/SAT2 originals
⚠️You can collect the above documents in a separate document bag and carry it with you (do not check it in! Do not check it in!) for customs inspection.
Small items on the plane:
1. Disposable slippers (on long-distance flights, it is really much more comfortable to put on slippers)
2. Flying pillow
3. Books, Kindle, downloaded songs or TV series
4. Long sleeves, small blankets, thin quilts
5. Small bottle of moisturizing spray/eye drops (very dry on the plane)
6. Eye mask
7. Earplugs
8. Mask (N95 is recommended)
Post-entry matters
1. Funding
The long-term problem for students who have just come to the United States is probably money. If the applicant does not have a SSN, the only way to apply for a U.S. bank card is to apply for a debit card, which is a savings card.
The documents required include: I20 form, school acceptance letter (or notification), passport, and $100 in cash (for deposit when opening the card). The bank will give you a thick stack of documents, including relevant documents and certificates for the card you applied for (please keep them safe to avoid information leakage).
Generally, students who apply for bank cards can open student accounts without annual fees.
The appearance of American savings cards and credit cards is exactly the same, with a three-digit security code and expiration date on the back. One thing to note is that the card number of American bank cards is not the account number. The account number is independent, which means that you don't need to transfer money again when you need to reissue your card. After that, your family doesn't need to ask for account information again when you transfer money. You just need to remember and rebind the card number and password.
It is recommended to apply for bank cards from several large banks. Not only is the security of small banks in collecting money from the country questionable, but they will also charge a lot of service fees when withdrawing cash urgently in other places.
2. Accommodation
Accommodation is one of the top priorities for international students. Graduate students and doctoral students who have just arrived in the United States usually stay in hotels and then look for accommodation. It is recommended that after receiving the admission notice of the school of your choice, check the city name and zip code in the school's address.
There are two types of student apartments: On Campus and Off Campus. The former is the school's own dormitory building, which is very expensive. Our school is located in a small town in the Midwest, with 20k students. The on-campus apartment costs $7,000 per semester, which is basically the same as the annual price of an off-campus apartment, and that's for a double room. Off-campus apartments are owned by apartment companies, which are generally located around the campus, but you need to pay attention to security and distance. Apartment companies have private houses for rent, but you need to be aware of your SSN and credit score.
Why choose a student apartment? First, student apartments are safe and monitored, and generally there is no crime except for thieves; second, student apartments often have all the water, electricity and network services included, so you don’t have to worry about it; third, if you don’t have an SSN, a US credit score and proof of income, no ordinary residential apartment company will rent to you.
2. Application process for studying in the United States
1. Take the exam
The first thing to start is English preparation, because when you go to study in the United States, you need to provide transcripts of qualified language standardized tests. Whether it is IELTS or TOEFL, you need to receive training in advance to familiarize and adapt to the model and content.
The recognition of both types of exams is very high, so you can just choose one type for intensive study. Basically, there are exams scheduled every week, so when you are preparing, you can agree on the exam time in advance to ensure that you can get the test results within the specified time.
2. Confirm your goals
You need to learn about the schools and majors you are applying for in advance, so you need to spend time screening, which is generally not very time-consuming. Because at least one of them will have a clear goal, and then you can conduct a comprehensive assessment based on planning, ability and ranking.
3. Prepare Materials
In the formal material preparation, you need to accumulate and prepare the hardware in advance, so when the time comes, you can directly obtain it. The academic certificate and GPA transcript, as well as the language test certificate, can be obtained directly after the date.
The statements and awards in the document preparation must be prepared according to the requirements, and fully demonstrate your true situation and explain your future study and employment plans. These are relatively complicated contents, and everyone must do them wholeheartedly.
Recommendation letters should also be taken very seriously, especially those written by people who need to be confirmed to be of relatively high status; other materials that prove one's ability, such as award certificates, internship certificates, published articles, etc., will all have a relatively positive effect and can increase the admission rate.
IV. Submit your application
Submit your application early to leave yourself enough time, and you will also get the final review results earlier. You don’t need to worry about missing the time. Because some majors are more popular, the channel will be closed when the number of students is full, so it is better to submit early.
The waiting time for review is about two months. During this period, you can keep in touch with the school to confirm the status of your material review to ensure that it goes smoothly. After receiving a satisfactory offer, you can directly confirm the admission.
3. Payment methods for studying in the United States
1. Money order, telegraphic transfer, traveler's check
When using these three methods, you need to consider the way to exchange for US dollars. Some people have private channels to exchange large amounts, which is more cost-effective than exchanging at the bank. Banks in some cities in China do not accept US dollars, they will accept RMB according to the exchange rate of the day.
2. Credit Card
Ask the school's policy. Some schools charge a handling fee for paying tuition with a credit card, which may be 2%-3%, or even higher. Although there is no handling fee for depositing US dollars in China, the handling fee is too high when you go abroad. Generally speaking, most parents choose to apply for a supplementary card of a US dollar credit card for their children in China, pay the children's tuition and miscellaneous fees to the school's account, and the parents pay RMB to the main card in China. If the main card is linked to another RMB account in China for automatic repayment, when the repayment deadline comes every month, the bank will automatically help you repay the money according to the exchange rate of the day, and you don't need to go to the bank all the time. But you need to pay attention that some schools only accept US credit cards (credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, American Express, Discover) - (from US banks)), and the billing address must be in the United States. In fact, some Chinese credit cards can be used (such as China Merchants Bank, but not China Construction Bank), which means that China Merchants Bank credit cards do not verify the billing address, while China Construction Bank does. It is recommended to ask the bank clearly before applying.
3. Carry Cash
This method is somewhat dangerous, but it is also the most convenient. In addition, you can get a certificate for carrying cash. For example, if you deposit US dollars in the Bank of China and then withdraw them (there is a daily withdrawal limit, which seems to be 5,000), you can get a certificate from the Bank of China that allows you to carry 10,000 US dollars. Then you can bring 10,000 US dollars into the United States. Never exceed the specified amount.
4. Write a check after opening an account in the United States
After arriving in the United States, students can open an account at a bank on campus, transfer money from China to the account, and then write a check to pay tuition. However, the handling fee incurred in this process is quite high.
4. Preparations before leaving for the United States
Preparation 1: Back up relevant important files
Before departure, you should prepare some important entry documents, such as passport, air ticket, notification letter and I-20 form. Note that if you have TOEFL/IELTS score reports, you must bring the originals. You can use photocopies of your payment receipts, whether it is tuition or accommodation fees, you must bring photocopies of the bills and receipts.
In addition, these important documents, including passports, should be prepared before departure, so as to avoid losing them or having to look up documents in special circumstances. In addition, bring a pen and a memo when you leave, and write down important numbers on the memo. Some students may think that everyone has a mobile phone, so there is no need to remember it specifically, but if the mobile phone is lost, it will be very troublesome when the phone number is needed.
Preparation 2: Activate international roaming
Since you are going to another country, it is very important to activate international roaming on your mobile phone card before leaving the country, so that you can contact your family immediately when you arrive in the United States. After getting familiar with the new environment here for a while, you can buy a local phone card. Of course, in order to save money, if students here often need to contact their family and friends in China, it will definitely cost a lot of money to make international long-distance calls every day, so using video communication to contact family is both convenient and cost-effective.
Preparation 3: Clothing preparation
In the United States, it usually snows in winter, except for the West Coast and other places, and the snow is often very heavy in these places. So when you first go there, you should prepare some warm clothes, snow boots and thick socks, in case you don't have time to buy thick clothes here. Of course, if you study in the southwest, you don't need to bring these clothes, and there are generally heating indoors in winter, so thick clothes may not be useful.
Preparation 4: Be security conscious
The environment in the United States is generally safe, but it is not absolutely safe. Students here still need to be aware of safety and self-protection at all times, which is the most important thing to remember.
Summary of the new immigration policy for studying abroad in 2023
After understanding the new entry policy for studying abroad in 2023, you will also need to prepare a VPN tool to bypass the firewall and return to China when studying in the United States.For many Chinese who go to the US to study and work, they still like to watch some Chinese TV series and programs in China, and they are more accustomed to use some domestic native apps to listen to music, watch videos, play games and so on. However, due to copyright reasons, most of the popular programs are only allowed to be accessed by mainland IPs. In such a big background, theVPN back over the wallQuickFox VPN has network nodes covering the world, which ensures high-speed access to the domestic network. With QuickFox, you can watch Chinese videos, live broadcasts, listen to Chinese copyrighted music, and even play Chinese games.