How to Maintain Your Nonimmigrant Status in the U.S.

Your I-94 date controls how long you may stay

Form I-94 is the arrival and departure record kept by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). It shows the date until which you were admitted. USCIS says you start accruing unlawful presence if you stay in the United States after the date noted on your Form I-94.

Your visa stamp is a different thing: it lets you apply for admission at a port of entry. Print your most recent I-94 from the CBP website after each entry and check the date. If the record needs a correction, CBP points to its Deferred Inspection Sites.

Some students and exchange visitors are admitted for “D/S” (duration of status) instead of a fixed date. See the student section below.

A passport matters most at the border. The law asks a nonimmigrant to hold a passport valid for at least six months beyond the end of the initial period of admission (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(7)(B)(i)(I)) and allows waivers (1182(a)(7)(B)(ii)). This is a rule about admission, not a rule about staying in status. Check the expiration date before you travel and renew early.

Work and activities: stay inside what your status allows

A visitor in B status may not work. Any other nonimmigrant may work only if the classification authorizes it or DHS has granted permission, and may do only the work that was authorized. Unauthorized employment is a failure to maintain status (8 CFR 214.1(e)).

Work authorization can be tied to one employer. For H-1B and several other employment-based classes, the employer files Form I-129 to extend the stay or to amend its terms (8 CFR 214.1(c)(1)). Ask whether a new filing is needed before you change employers or the terms of the job.

A visitor may not study either. B-1 and B-2 visitors may not begin a course of study until USCIS approves a change of status to F-1 or M-1, and USCIS will deny the change if they enrolled before filing or while it is pending (8 CFR 248.1(c)(3)).

Full and truthful answers to DHS are a condition of your admission and stay (8 CFR 214.1(f)).

Extensions and changes of status: file before your stay ends

Most extension and change-of-status requests use Form I-539. Employers file Form I-129 for many work classes. USCIS suggests that you file an extension at least 45 days before your stay expires.

The deadline matters in law as well as in practice. USCIS may not approve an extension or a change of status for a person who failed to maintain status or whose status expired before the request was filed. It may excuse a late filing only if extraordinary circumstances beyond your control caused the delay, you have not otherwise violated status, you remain a bona fide nonimmigrant and you are not in removal proceedings (8 CFR 214.1(c)(4) and 248.1(b)).

Some people cannot change status at all, including those in C, D, K and S status, J exchange visitors subject to the two-year home-residence requirement without a waiver, and people admitted under the visa waiver program (8 CFR 248.2).

The Form I-539 filing fee is $470 on paper and $420 online (USCIS fee schedule, edition 10/16/26). Fees change, so check the schedule on the day you file.

Report each new address within 10 days

A noncitizen in the United States must report a change of address to USCIS within 10 days of moving (8 U.S.C. 1305(a); 8 CFR 265.1). The requirement does not apply to A and G visa holders or visa waiver visitors. USCIS strongly encourages filing the change through a USCIS online account, which updates its case systems almost immediately; a paper Form AR-11 does not.

If you have a pending benefit request, tell USCIS as soon as possible. F-1 students must also tell their school official (the DSO) within 10 days, and a notice to the DSO satisfies the DHS notice rule for students (8 CFR 214.2(f)(17)).

Students: full-time study, program extensions and the grace period

An F-1 student must keep a full course of study and make normal progress toward the program goal (8 CFR 214.2(f)(5) and (f)(6)). A student who cannot finish by the program end date on the Form I-20 must ask the school official for a program extension before that date. The official cannot grant one if the student applies after the end date (8 CFR 214.2(f)(7)).

After completing studies and any authorized practical training, an F-1 student has 60 days to prepare to leave or to transfer. A student whom the school official authorized to withdraw has 15 days to leave. A student who stopped a full course of study without approval has no grace period (8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(iv)).

The 60-day period is the rule USCIS applies today. In July 2026 DHS published a final rule (91 FR 44976) that would replace “duration of status” for F, J and I nonimmigrants with fixed admission dates and cut the F-1 departure period to 30 days. On 14 September 2026 a federal court in Massachusetts postponed the rule's effective date and enjoined DHS from implementing it. USCIS says it will keep applying the previous regulations until the court order changes. Rule status can change quickly, so ask your school official or an attorney before you rely on either period.

J-1 exchange visitors should check their program rules with the sponsor's responsible officer.

Unlawful presence and the 3-year and 10-year bars

Unlawful presence generally starts the day after the date on your I-94. The bar periods below run from the day you leave the United States (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(B); USCIS).

• More than 180 days but less than 1 year of unlawful presence, then departure: you are inadmissible if you seek admission again within 3 years.
• 1 year or more of unlawful presence, then departure: you are inadmissible if you seek admission again within 10 years.
• More than 1 year of unlawful presence in total, followed by entering or trying to enter without being admitted: a separate inadmissibility ground (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(9)(C)). Consent to reapply is possible only after 10 years outside the United States.

Unlawful presence: who does not accrue it

People under 18 do not accrue unlawful presence, and time with a bona fide pending asylum application is not counted, among other exceptions (USCIS). Students admitted for D/S generally begin accruing unlawful presence the day after their status ends, but the rules for F, J and M students are specific. Get advice before you leave the country or file anything if your status may have lapsed.

Never claim U.S. citizenship or vote in a federal election

A person who falsely claims to be a U.S. citizen for any purpose or benefit under the immigration law or any other federal or state law is inadmissible (8 U.S.C. 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii)). It is also unlawful for a noncitizen to vote in an election for federal office, with narrow exceptions, and a violation carries a fine, up to one year in prison, or both (18 U.S.C. 611).

Do not check a “U.S. citizen” box on any form, including job and voter forms. If you are unsure how to answer, ask an attorney first.