This is the VOA Special English Education Report.
We continue our series of reports about how foreign students can attend a
college or university in the United States. Our subject this week is government
rules and requirements for entering the United States to study.
Every foreign student who has been accepted to study in this country must
have a legal document called a visa
from the United States government. A visa permits a foreign citizen to travel to
the United States and request permission to enter the country. The rules for
getting a visa can be found on the State Department Web site. The address is
unitedstatesvisas dot g-o-v. United States visas is all one word. Another State
Department Web site for students from other countries is educationusa dot g-o-v.
If you are requesting a visa for the first time, you may have to appear at
the American Embassy in your country to talk to an official. Each student should
communicate with the Embassy to find out if such an interview is needed and when
it can take place.
It is important to apply for the visa early. State Department officials say
national security is the most important issue in deciding if a person will be
permitted to enter the United States. Officials must find out if a student is on
any list of people with possible links to terrorists.
Embassies can not issue a visa more than 90 days before the start of the
educational program in the United States. If you are a student studying in the
United States for the first time, you will not be permitted to enter the country
more than thirty days before the start of your classes.
Foreign students accepted at an American school will receive a document
called a Certificate of Eligibility. The State Department says each student must
enter the country using the certificate provided by the school he or she will be
attending. It is a violation of the law to enter the country on one school's
certificate but attend another school.
You are permitted to stay in the United States on a student visa for the
length of your period of study. That means you can stay as long as you are a
full-time student. Your college or university will provide the government with
reports about your education as long as you continue to study there. We will
have more information about that next week.
Our Foreign Student Series is online, at voaspecialenglish dot com.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy
Steinbach. I'm Mario Ritter.
visa :
簽證
點擊進入更多VOA慢速
（來源:VOA
英語點津姍姍編輯）
