Imagine: you are in the United States as a tourist, on a business trip, or any other type of nonimmigrant visa, and you have decided to attend a college, school or a language school in the United States. You can request the USCIS to change your status to that of a student while remaining in the United States.  

To do so, you first need to find an educational institution (college, university, high school) that will accept you as a student. Once you are admitted, the educational institution will issue you a student form called Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status. Most commonly, this will be a student form I-20.

You then need to submit to the USCIS application to change your status, Form I-539, along with all supporting evidence such as your I-20, passport and visa pages, Form I-94, and proof that you will be able to pay for your school and living expenses. You will also need to pay a filing fee.

Please note that due to recent changes in the law, you must also remain in legitimate status. It means that if you are in the United States, let’s see on a B-2 tourist visa. You will need to submit another Form I-539, Request to Extend Status. Because USCIS is taking about a year to process change of status requests, you may need to provide two or even 3 Extension of Status applications. You can extend your status for a maximum of 6 months on a filed application, which is why multiple applications may have to be filed.