International Student Timeline and Checklist
To help you and your students understand the number and order of steps they need to follow, we created a timeline and checklist for graduate, professional, and non-degree international students. You can use this visual as a guide when talking about international student-specific requirements.
Arrival Date
ISSS recommends new graduate students arrive 10 days before the start date on their immigration documents (I-20 or DS-2019). Students with assistantships should plan to arrive up to 10 days before their report-by date to allow enough time to complete paperwork.
International students are only allowed to enter the U.S. within 30 days of the program start date listed on their I-20 or DS-2019 immigration document. This means that the majority of students will not be entering the U.S. until August. However, students who are currently in the U.S. and studying at another U.S. institution may arrive on campus throughout the summer.
How ISSS Keeps New Students Informed
After admission, all new international students access pre-arrival information from four main sources.
Pre-Arrival Guide
After confirming enrollment to the University, students are emailed a Pre-Arrival Guide along with their immigration documents. The guide contains general information relevant to all new international students.
ISSS Emails and Website
ISSS regularly sends emails to all incoming international students. As Google applications are banned in some countries, ISSS sends these emails to both the student’s UMN email address and the personal email in their record. These emails include reminders about their ISSS new student requirements, information about ISSS services and programs, and information about campus resources. Our new student website also has key information to help students prepare for arrival, including tips about the visa application process, living in Minnesota, removing registration holds, getting involved on campus, and more.
You can sign up to receive copies of these messages (click the link for "joining the group") as well as copies of the ISSS Weekly Update, which is sent throughout the year.
International Student Preparation Course
The International Student Preparation Course is a mandatory, pre-arrival online course through Canvas to help new international students prepare for their arrival at the University by learning about expectations and specific international student requirements. The course opens in April for fall enrollment and in November for spring enrollment.
Global Gopher Experiences
Global Gopher Experiences (GGE) is a series of webinars and in-person events that aims to prepare students for their transition to the University of Minnesota, prepare them to succeed academically, learn important career skills, and most importantly, meet other Global Gophers! While optional, we highly encourage students to participate.
Webinars are hosted every other week throughout the summer with a different topic at each webinar. In-person events will be held the week before classes begin.
The ISSS Welcome Session is a GGE event held in late August each year. At these in-person events, new students will learn about key action items they need to complete before classes begin, meet ISSS staff and learn about our services, connect and socialize with peers, and have the chance to ask questions about their ISSS new student requirements. For Fall 2023, ISSS will hold Welcome Sessions for incoming graduate students on August 17 and 29.
Beginning in Fall 2023, attendance at an ISSS Welcome Session will no longer be required for removal of the AI “Determine Current Visa Status” registration hold. Only the International Student Preparation Course and the ISSS Check-in will be required for hold removal. This is because ISSS has moved much of the “need to know” immigration information from the Welcome Sessions of previous years into our online ISSS Check-in form, allowing us to focus primarily on building connections between students and their peers and ISSS staff during our sessions. ISSS will no longer maintain an online version of the Welcome Session.
