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
Students with an assistantship must arrive at least one week before their employment start date, to ensure sufficient time for completing pre-employment paperwork.
Students with no assistantship are recommended to arrive:
- At least two days before a required orientation for their program (if applicable), OR
- At least one week before the start of classes.
Most 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
All new international students receive timely information from ISSS throughout the late spring and summer.
New Global Gopher Required Tasks
Required by ISSS. The New Global Gopher Required Tasks in MyISSSguides incoming international students through pre-arrival and post-arrival tasks they must complete to satisfy visa requirements and prepare for arrival at the UMN. Students must complete all of the Required Tasks to have their AI “Determine Current Visa Status” hold permanently removed.
One of the Required Tasksis the International Student Preparation Course (iPrep). IPrep is an extensive pre-arrival online course in Canvas that helps new international students prepare for their arrival at the University by learning about expectations and specific international student requirements.
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 the New Global Gopher Required Tasks, 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.
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 recurring 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. Like all GGE events, the ISSS Welcome Session is optional, but highly encouraged.
2025 ISSS Welcome Session dates for graduate & professional students:
- Thursday, August 14
- Thursday, August 21
- Tuesday, August 26
