Please make photocopies of your travel documents and keep the copies in a safe place, separate from the originals. Photocopy the following documents:

• Passport pages that have your picture and personal information, as well as official information (including its date of expiration)
• Passport page with the visa on it
• Both sides of your Form I-94
• All parts of your I-20

Passport

Your passport is your own government's permit for you to leave and re-enter your own country. You should keep your passport valid at all times (most passports contain an expiration date) unless exempt from passport requirement. Consult your own embassy in the U.S. to renew your passport. The embassy officials will tell you what forms and fees, if any, are required. If you are required to supply a letter affirming that you are a student at Emory University you can request a letter at ISSP or an official letter from the Emory University Registrar's Office. For addresses of your country's embassy, link to Washington, D.C. embassies.

Visa

The visa stamp put in your passport by the U.S. consul abroad is required to enter the United States, unless exempt from visa requirements, but has no bearing on how long you can stay here. It also indicates the classification status you will have upon admission to the United States. It is necessary to renew your visa if the visa has expired and you are planning on traveling outside the North American continent. You may renew your visa by visiting the U.S. consul in the country to which you are traveling; unfortunately, it is not possible to renew an F-1 visa within the borders of the U.S.

Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record

The I-94 shows that you have been admitted to the U.S. The I-94 is usually stapled onto the US visa page of your passport. It contains an eleven-digit identifying number (called your departure number) that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) uses to keep track of your arrival in and departure from the United States. The DHS sometimes refers to the "departure" number as the "admission" number. There may be a date written in the upper right-hand corner of your I-94. You must leave the US by that date or apply to extend your stay. If there is no date, but rather the inscription "D/S" (duration of status,) you are admitted for the length of your program of study as indicated on your I-20, plus any period of post-completion optional practical training, plus 60 days. If you graduate before the completion date indicated on your I-20 you are considered to have completed your program of study and your I-20 is no longer valid.

Form I-20

The I-20 is the immigration document issued for the program and level of study the student is presently pursuing. Page 3 of the I-20 contains lines for an endorsement by a Designated School Official (DSO) affirming that the information on the front of the I-20 is correct for the purpose of re-entering the United States. There are spaces for information about the F-1 student's dependents, and others for employment authorization, curricular practical training, recommendations for post-completion practical training, or notations by a DHS official.