During your time at UCI, you may want to invite a family member to visit you. The following provides some suggestions to help your family obtain a visa to enter the U.S.
Spouse and Children
The legal spouse and children under 21 years of F-1 and J-1 visa holder may be eligible for J-2 or F-2 status to accompany you or follow you separately to the U.S. Please complete the Dependent Request Form (see below) and submit it along with the required attachments. A new Dependent I-20 or Dependent DS-2019 form will be prepared for each of your family members.
For Students & Scholars: Dependent Request Form
You will receive an email message from the International Center to when the document is ready to be picked up. You will need to mail the documents to your family members, they will need the document to apply for a visa. Please review the Obtaining a F-2/J-2/H-4 Dependent Visa form for more information.
Extended Family Members
Extended family (parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc.) and domestic partners are not eligible to come to the U.S. as “dependents” in F-2 or J-2 status. They must apply for a B-1/B-2 Visitor visa or come to the U.S. under the Visa Waiver Program. Your family members must contact the U.S. Consulate directly to arrange for a visa interview. If they are from a country that participates in the visa waiver program, they must follow the steps needed to enter the U.S. in WB or WT status. You may choose to provide documents to your family members to demonstrate that you are a student or scholar in the U.S. and that the purpose of their trip to the U.S. is to visit you. If you choose to provide documents below is a list of recommendations.
- Write a Letter of Invitation: Sample Letter of Invitation Include the purpose of the visit, your relationship to the individual, a statement of your status here and the length of time they will be visiting. If the individual has a job to which they plan to return, it is good to mention it. If you plan to provide for their support while they are here, include that information as well.
- Obtain a letter of verification:
- Undergraduate and graduate students can request a letter of verification of student status from the Office of the Registrar’s.
- Scholars can request a letter from the department that indicates that you are a scholar in good standing in the department, your reason for being here, that you wish to return to your home country at the end of your research or teaching, and, if applicable, the amount of funding being provided by the department, request a financial statement from your bank (if you are not receiving salary from the university).
- Financial Support: Provide proof of your own financial support, if you will provide support for your family members while they are in the U.S. The financial support can be a bank statement or a letter from your department that verifies your income.