In order to apply for reinstatement of F-1 Status, an application for reinstatement needs to be filed with USCIS within 5 months of falling out of status or there needs to exceptional circumstances. The applicant cannot have a record of being a repeat violator or worked without authorization. They must also have an I-20 that includes the DSO’s recommendation for reinstatement. The decision to grant reinstatement is within USCIS’s discretion. If reinstatement is denied the Applicant would need to obtain a new F-1 visa to return to the U.S. as the earlier F-1 visa would void upon USCIS’S decision.
214.2(f)(16) Reinstatement to student status.–
214.2(f)(16)(i) General. The district director may consider reinstating a student who makes a request for reinstatement on Form I-539, Application to Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, accompanied by a properly completed SEVIS Form I-20 indicating the DSO’s recommendation for reinstatement (or a properly completed Form I-20A-B issued prior to January 30, 2003, from the school the student is attending or intends to attend prior to August 1, 2003). The district director may consider granting the request if the student:
214.2(f)(16)(i)(A) Has not been out of status for more than 5 months at the time of filing the request for reinstatement (or demonstrates that the failure to file within the 5 month period was the result of exceptional circumstances and that the student filed the request for reinstatement as promptly as possible under these exceptional circumstances);
214.2(f)(16)(i)(B) Does not have a record of repeated or willful violations of Service regulations;
214.2(f)(16)(i)(C) Is currently pursuing, or intending to pursue, a full course of study in the immediate future at the school which issued the Form I-20;
214.2(f)(16)(i)(D) Has not engaged in unauthorized employment;
214.2(f)(16)(i)(E) Is not deportable on any ground other than section 237(a)(1)(B) or (C)(i) of the Act; and
214.2(f)(16)(i)(F) Establishes to the satisfaction of the Service, by a detailed showing, either that:
214.2(f)(16)(i)(F)(1) The violation of status resulted from circumstances beyond the student’s control. Such circumstances might include serious injury or illness, closure of the institution, a natural disaster, or inadvertence, oversight, or neglect on the part of the DSO, but do not include instances where a pattern of repeated violations or where a willful failure on the part of the student resulted in the need for reinstatement; or
214.2(f)(16)(i)(F)(2) The violation relates to a reduction in the student’s course load that would have been within a DSO’s power to authorize, and that failure to approve reinstatement would result in extreme hardship to the student