International Student Services Office

Transferring to Butler...

If you have indicated that you are an F-1 transfer student on your Butler application, which you should have done if you are transferring from a school in the United States to Butler, you will receive a Transfer Verification Form from Butler University.

Submit the transfer verification form to your most recent school's Designated School Official (DSO). The DSO should fill it out and return it to Butler University. The DSO will then 'release' your SEVIS record to Butler University. At that time, Butler's Office of International Student Services will create your transfer I-20 and will have it for you when you arrive for Orientation.

Leaving the United States while transfer to Butler is pending:

If you would like to return to your home country before you begin your first semester at Butler, you need to Notify Butler's Office of International Student Services of your travel plans. We can either:

  • Create a 'transfer pending' I-20 before you leave for your trip home and give the 'transfer pending' I-20 to you while you are still in the United States.
  • Or we can create the 'transfer pending' I-20 and send it to your home country with a mailing address you provide to us.

In either situation, you must make sure that you sign the first page of the 'transfer pending' I-20 and have the 'transfer pending' I-20 with you when you return to the United States. When you have reported to the OISS after you have returned to the U.S., you will receive a new 'transfer' I-20.

Remaining in the United States while transfer to Butler is pending:

If you choose to stay in the United States after you have completed your program at your previous school and before you begin your first semester at Butler, you are able to stay in the United States if you begin studying within 5 months after your program end date on your previous school's I-20 or within 5 months of transferring out of your previous school (whichever is earlier). Otherwise, you may not stay in the U.S. between transfers.

For example, if your program end date on your I-20 is June 1, 2011 (6/1/2011), you must begin studying no later than November 1, 2011 (11/1/2011). 

If you are engaged in post-completion OPT, the same regulation applies: You must begin studying within 5 months of the end of your OPT authorization or within 5 months of your previous school transferring you to Butler (whichever is earlier).