Very Important Documents
O I-20 Form
O Passport
Please do not lose any of these documents. They
can be hard to replace and can be costly.
Maintaining your immigration
status
 Maintain a valid passport
 Maintain a valid I-20 Form
 Maintain full time
enrollment
 No unauthorized
employment
 Obtain travel signatures
 Report address changes
over summer session
Maintain a valid passport
O Check to insure that your passport is still valid.
O Six months prior to your passport expiring, you should
contact your country’s embassy in Washington, DC to
start processing an extension. You can find
information on your country’s embassy contact
information at www.embassy.org
O If you have a valid visa in the expiring passport, your
country will attach the expired passport to your new
passport so you are still able to use the valid visa.
They will invalidate all the other pages.
Maintain full time enrollment
O You must be registered as a full-time student (be
taking at least 12 credits) for every semester you are
enrolled at MHC.
O If you need to drop below full-time enrollment
(generally only allowed for documented medical
reasons), you must see Jenny or Donna before
dropping below full time. Failure to do this will result
in our office having to notify the immigration service
that you are out of legal immigration status.
I-94 Arrival/Departure Card
O You can print your I-94 card at the Customs and
Border Protection website:
https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/request.html
O You will need your name, date of birth, passport
number, date of entry into the US, class of admission
(for most F-1 students).
O If you are a transfer student and have not left the US ,
you might still have the old version of the I-94 (white
card in your passport). Please make sure to keep this
in your passport it costs $300 to replace. You will
give up this form the next time you leave the US and
you will be issued an electronic I-94 upon re-entry.
US Visa Stamp
I-20 Form
Travel signatures before
leaving the U.S.
O You should bring in your I-20 form for a travel
signature from either Jenny or Donna at least one
week before you will be traveling outside the U.S.
O We will send reminder messages about this during
peak travel times (October Break, December Break,
Spring Break, summer)
O On page 3 of the I-20 it states that travel signatures
are valid for one year. However, we have found that
if you are traveling outside the US more regularly,
the immigration officers would like to see
signatures for each semester.
No unauthorized work
O On-Campus: If you are at MHC on the F-1 student visa, you can
work on campus up to 20 hours a week when school is in
session and full time during J Term and the summer. The
Village Commons and Stony Brook Childcare are not
considered on campus employment.
O Off-campus Employment: you can not accept any off-campus
employment without permission from the Immigration Service
or the McCulloch Center
O There are two types of off campus work permission for F-1
students but you will not be eligible for either until you have
been enrolled in F-1 status for one full academic year and have
a declared major. Any work you do off campus must be related
to your academic major.
O We will have an information session about off-campus
employment later this fall. We will send you a reminder email.
Applying for a Social Security Card
O Needed for application
-Valid passport
-I-20 form
-Employment letter from on-campus employer.
Please visit our website for the template of this letter. It must be on the letterhead of the
department you will be working for.
-Support letter from McCulloch Center for Global Initiatives
O Representatives from the Social Security Administration will be on campus
on Friday, September 26th from 12:30-4:30 pm in 318 Blanchard to
accept applications for social security numbers. If you do not apply during
at this time, you will need to go to the SS Office in Holyoke at 200 High
Street. There are no buses that go to this office, so you will need to find
your own transportation.
COPYING OF VISA DOCUMENTS
Please bring your visa documents (I-20 form,
passport) to the McCulloch Center so we can
make a copy for your file and for your social
security application.
You can bring them in Monday – Friday
between 8:30-2:30
Income Tax
O Due Date?
O April 15 or June 15
O Fines?
O Underpay, Late filing,
Fraudulent claim
O Who Files?
O Pay Too Much?
O All international students,
spouses and children over 14
O Get it back from employer
years whether you have
or IRS
worked or not.
O Help?
O How Much?
O IRS Website
O Withholding according to W-4
www.irs.ustreas.gov
O Tax treaty benefits
O GTP software free to MHC
O Social Security withholding
international students
P.O. Box ____
Blanchard Campus Center
South Hadley, MA 01075
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