Your visa is placed in your passport at a U.S. Department of State Embassy or Consulate outside of the U.S. It is your permit allowing you to travel to a U.S. port of entry and to request entry as a non-immigrant.
Once an international student has been admitted to a degree-seeking program at BYU, and completed the financial requirements, the university will provide the Form I-20 for the visa application. If a student’s visa application is denied, BYU will not intervene in the process, unless the government requests additional information directly from the university.
Admitted international students with a B-1/B-2 or F-2 visa will not be permitted to enroll at the university until they have secured F-1 visa status. Students should not attempt to enter the United States as a degree-seeking student without presenting a Form I-20, a valid visa (except Canadians and Bermudians), and valid passport.
Please refer to the International Student and Scholar Services website for additional information.
Federal financial aid is not available to international students, and you should not include the assistance of U.S. government resources when calculating your financial plan. Freshman applicants may qualify for highly competitive academic scholarships. Transfer applicants may be considered for other non-academic scholarships only if they are applying for fall semester and meet the December 15 deadline (see deadlines). In all cases, to be eligible for BYU scholarships, students must submit the scholarship application.
International students who are admitted to BYU will need to complete the following requirements before receiving the Form I-20 and registering for classes:
Sponsors
Generally speaking, international students require the support of a sponsor to prove financial ability. Students are responsible for securing this sponsor (i.e., parents, government, other). This individual (or these individuals) should be a viable financial resource to the student.
