How to Transfer Your F-1 Visa to Another School in Brooklyn

Transferring schools is one of those procedures nobody explains to you in advance. You get your F-1, you arrive, you start studying — and six months later you realize the schedule doesn't work with your job, the college costs more than you planned, or your school has lost its SEVP certification entirely. Then the question comes up: can you change schools without leaving the U.S. and without losing your status?

The short answer is yes. The process is called a SEVIS transfer, and it does not require a new consular interview. But it runs on strict deadlines, and those deadlines are where most students get into trouble. Here's the whole process, step by step.

What a SEVIS transfer actually is

Your F-1 status exists in two separate places. The first is the visa stamp in your passport — that's simply permission to enter the country, issued by a consulate. The second is your record in SEVIS, tied to one specific school, plus the Form I-20 that school issued you.

When you change schools inside the U.S., the second one changes, not the first. Your SEVIS record is transferred from your old school to the new one, and the new school issues a fresh I-20 carrying the same SEVIS ID. That ID staying the same is the key detail: it's why you don't pay the I-901 fee again and why you don't need another visa interview.

Your visa stamp stays valid until its expiration date, even though it still names your previous school. As long as you remain in the U.S., that causes no problems at all. It only matters if you travel abroad and return: at the border you present the new I-20, and if the visa itself has expired by then, you'll need to apply for a new one at a consulate using your new school's I-20.

Who is eligible to transfer

Any student physically in the U.S. and currently maintaining valid F-1 status can transfer. In practical terms that means you've been attending classes and meeting your course-load requirement, your I-20 hasn't expired, you weren't terminated for absences, and you haven't worked without authorization.

Transfers are allowed between any SEVP-certified institutions: college to language school, language school to language school, university to an ESL program. Moving to a shorter or less advanced program isn't prohibited. The one hard requirement is that both the old and the new school must be SEVP-certified.

A separate situation is students who have already fallen out of status — stopped attending, abandoned a program, went out-of-status. A transfer does not fix that. Those cases involve reinstatement through USCIS, or departing and re-entering on a new I-20. It's far better to assess this honestly and early than to hope a new school can paper over the gap.

Deadlines: where students lose their status

This is the most critical part, and the part most often misunderstood.

The 15-day rule. Your new school must register you in SEVIS within 15 days of the program start date listed on your new I-20. In plain terms: you have to actually show up when the session begins, not "in a month, once things calm down."

The five-month rule. You must resume study at the new school at the next available session, and in any case no later than five months from the transfer or from the end date of your previous program. Miss that window and your SEVIS record closes — at which point a transfer can no longer save your status.

The 60-day grace period. If you completed your program, you have 60 days. Within that window you have every right to apply for a transfer and remain in the country. But those 60 days are only granted to students who finished in status. If you were terminated or you dropped out, the clock works differently and is usually much shorter. We covered this in detail in our article on the F-1 grace period.

The practical takeaway: start the transfer process a few weeks before your program ends, or immediately after you decide to switch — not after everything has already run out.

The transfer process, step by step

Step 1. Get accepted at the new school. Before you say anything to your current school, you need confirmation that the new one will take you. At Lingua Prime NY that means our application form plus copies of your passport, visa, current I-20 and I-94. We review your status situation before you request anything from your previous school — which keeps you out of the worst-case scenario where your record has been released and nobody can accept it.

Step 2. Submit a transfer-out request at your current school. This is usually an internal form where you name the new school, its SEVIS School Code, and your requested transfer date — the release date. Some schools also require a proof of acceptance from the new school.

Step 3. Agree on the release date. This is the date control of your SEVIS record passes to the new school. Before it, your old DSO is responsible for you; after it, your new one. Set it after your current classes end but before the new session starts. Too early and you cut ties prematurely; too late and you won't have a new I-20 in hand when classes begin.

Step 4. Receive your new I-20. After the release date, the new DSO issues a transfer-pending I-20. Sign it and keep it — this is now your primary proof of status.

Step 5. Show up and complete registration. Within 15 days of your program start date you attend the school, complete registration, and your DSO marks you active in SEVIS. At that point the transfer is complete.

What to do if your school closes or loses certification

This happens more often than students expect, and it's the most stressful version of this situation. If a school shuts down or loses SEVP certification, you generally have a limited window to transfer to another certified institution and preserve your status. Delay is what costs students the most here.

Act immediately: identify a school with active SEVP certification, submit your documents, and request the record transfer as fast as possible. Waiting for an official letter, or hoping the school resolves its problems, is a risky strategy.

Why students transfer into Lingua Prime NY

We handle F-1 transfers regularly, and we're set up for it.

Our school is SEVP-certified and authorized to enroll F-1 students through SEVIS, CEA-accredited (Commission on English Language Program Accreditation, recognized by the U.S. Department of Education), and licensed by BPSS, the New York State Education Department's Bureau of Proprietary School Supervision. For a transfer this isn't a formality — without active SEVP certification a school physically cannot receive your SEVIS record.

The second reason is scheduling. Our Intensive English Program runs 18 hours per week in three formats: morning (Mon–Thu, 9 AM–2 PM), evening (Mon–Fri, 5 PM–9 PM), and weekend (Sat–Sun, 9 AM–7 PM). Many students transfer to us precisely because their previous schedule couldn't coexist with work or family. Current sessions are listed on our School Schedule page.

Third: cost. Twelve weeks for F-1 students is $1,500, with the full breakdown on our Tuition & Fees page. If you need targeted work alongside the program, one-on-one lessons are available at $60 per hour.

Fourth: support. We're at 1535 McDonald Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11230, and you're welcome to come in with transfer questions in person — here's how to find us. What else we help with is outlined under Student Services.

Quick checklist

Confirm your status is valid. Find a SEVP-certified school and secure acceptance. Submit the transfer-out request at your current school. Agree on a release date. Receive and sign your new I-20. Attend and complete registration within 15 days.

SEVP rules and DHS requirements change periodically, so always confirm final timelines with your DSO and on official ICE/SEVP resources. If you're on an F-1 in New York and considering a transfer, message us on WhatsApp at 646-856-8536 or submit an application, and we'll walk through your situation before you take the first step.