1. National Holidays for September
2. First International Coffee Hour of the School Year is Friday, September 7
3. Register Your Cellular Devices to Receive Emergency Text Messages
4. International Student Festival Begins Later This Week!
5. Be Sure You Are Registered for a Full-Time Course Load!
6. Be Sure You Have Permission in Advance to Take Less Than a Full-Time Course Load, If Applicable to You
7. Update on Social Security Numbers for New International Students
8. Did You Apply for OPT in July 2007? Still Waiting for Your Service Center Receipt?
9. Diversity Visa Lottery 2009 Preliminary Announcement

1. National Holidays for September

The following countries are celebrating national holidays during the month of September:

Libya	1-Sep
Slovakia	1-Sep
Uzbekistan	1-Sep
Vietnam	2-Sep
Qatar	3-Sep
San Marino	3-Sep
Swaziland	6-Sep
Brazil	7-Sep
Andorra	8-Sep
North Korea	9-Sep
Tajikistan	9-Sep
Cape Verde	12-Sep
Costa Rica	15-Sep
El Salvador	15-Sep
Guatemala	15-Sep
Honduras	15-Sep
Nicaragua	15-Sep
Mexico	16-Sep
Papua New Guinea	16-Sep
Chile	18-Sep
St. Kitts and Nevis	19-Sep
Armenia	21-Sep
Belize	21-Sep
Malta	21-Sep
Mali	22-Sep
Saudi Arabia	23-Sep
Guinea-Bissau	24-Sep
Botswana	30-Sep

2. First International Coffee Hour of the School Year is Friday, September 7

Meet new and returning students! Good company! Free refreshments! Celebrate the beginning of the Fall semester by coming to this month's International Coffee Hour on Friday, September 7 from 3:30pm-5:00pm in Old Union Hall. This month's sponsor is United University Professions (UUP). 

The Coffee Hour strives to be a space where the entire Binghamton University community, including international students, U.S. students, faculty/staff, and community members are welcome. The coffee hours are informal and provide an opportunity to meet and learn more about each other in a relaxed atmosphere. They are held on the first Friday of every month during the academic year. Each coffee hour has free hot and cold beverages, cookies, vegan bars and breads, sponsored by a different department on campus.

3. Register Your Cellular Devices to Receive Emergency Text Messages

Students are now able to register their cell phones and other cellular devices to receive text messages from the University in emergency situation. If you did not register your cellular device during an orientation session this summer, go to http://www.telecom.binghamton.edu/ and click on Emergency Notification. You’ll be brought to a sign-up screen where you can register your name, Binghamton e-mail address and cell number so you will receive a text message about what to do in the event an emergency arises.

4. Student Festival Begins Later This Week!

What will you be doing between September 7 and September 9?

We hope that you will spend part of your time at the Seventh annual International Student Festival! Preliminary and semi-final sports competitions in soccer (East Gym fields), volleyball (West Gym), basketball (West Gym) and badminton (East Gym) will take place September 7-9.
See the complete schedule at:
http://isss.binghamton.edu/prog/ISF.html

Pairings for Soccer, Basketball and Volleyball are already complete, these will be posted to the Festival Schedule on Tuesday:

Participating organizations are the Binghamton University Japanese Association (BUJA), Binghamton University Korean Undergraduate Student Association, Binghamton University Turkish Student Association (BU-TSA), the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA), the European Student Association, the Graduate African Student Organization (GASO), the Indian Graduate Student Organization (IGSO), the Korean Graduate Student Association (KGSA), the Taiwan Student Association, and the Turkish Cultural Association (TURCA).

A special ISSS-BU reminder, highlighting this weekend’s Festival events, along with the pairings for Badminton, will be published this Thursday, September 6.

5. Be Sure You Are Registered for a Full-Time Course Load!

ISSS would like to take this opportunity to remind students in F-1 and J-1 status that you are required to be registered for a full-time course load each semester.

What constitutes a full-time course load varies according to academic level.
Minimum Full Time Course Loads:

• Exchange Students: 12 credits per semester
• Undergraduates: 12 credits per semester
• Graduate Master's Level 1: 12 credits per semester
• Graduate Master's Level 2 (completion of at least 24 credits): 9 credits per semester
• Graduate Master's students who need only thesis or project to complete their program:
• *1 credit or more per semester, that can be certified as full-time by department.  Such students, if they are registered for less than 9 credits, must submit the Graduate School's "Certification of Full-Time Status for Students Not Receiving Tuition Scholarships" form to their department each semester for filing with the Graduate School. This form may be found at the following website:
  http://gradschool.binghamton.edu/documents/FTCForm.pdf
• Graduate PhD students: 9 credits per semester
• Graduate PhD students admitted to candidacy or who have pre-dissertation or dissertation research: *1 credit per semester that can be certified as full-time by the department.  Such students, if they are registered for less than 9 credits, must submit the Graduate School's "Certification of Full-Time Status for Students Not Receiving Tuition Scholarships" form to their department each semester for filing with the Graduate School. This form may be found at the following website:
  http://gradschool.binghamton.edu/documents/FTCForm.pdf

There are some very limited exceptions to the full-time course requirement. See the next article, below.  For complete information on full-time registration, stop by the ISSS to obtain a handout on Rules for Maintaining a Full-Time Course Load, or view the handout on the ISSS website at:
http://isss.binghamton.edu/imm/RuleFTload.htm

6. Be Sure You Have Permission in Advance to Take Less Than a Full-Time Course Load, If Applicable to You

There are very few exceptions to the full time course load rule for students in F-1 status. Those exceptions include academic difficulty, medical condition, and completion of study, and there are strict criteria for each. In every instance, you must obtain PRIOR authorization from the ISSS. Only once you receive this authorization from the ISSS can you then drop the course. A F-1 student who drops below a full course of study without the prior approval of the Office of International Student and Scholar Services will be considered out of status, and must be reported in SEVIS as having dropped below a full-time course load without authorization.

There is a special form for each of the three exceptions, available in the ISSS and as a downloadable document on the ISSS website: http://isss.binghamton.edu/forms/index.html
Each form must be completed by the student (and in the case of reduction in course load due to academic difficulty or due to completion of study, completed by the student’s academic advisor) and approved by the ISSS before the course may be dropped.

For detailed information on the rules that allow for a course load reduction for F-1 students, stop by the ISSS to obtain a handout on “Permissible Reasons Under F-1 Regulations to Register for Less Than a Full Time Course Load” or view the handout on the ISSS website at:
http://isss.binghamton.edu/imm/lesscourse.htm  Questions or concerns regarding this requirement?  Come to the ISSS or send an e-mail message to isss@binghamton.edu

7. Update on Social Security Numbers for New International Students

A large number of international students applied for Social Security cards at International Student Orientation on August 22. Many students are checking in with the Office of International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) to see if their card has arrived. As you will recall from the information you received when you applied, for most students, the Social Security card will not be available for at least four-six weeks from the date of application.
 
Social Security cards cannot be issued until the Social Security Administration confirms with US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that you are in the United States legally. You need to be in the United States at least 10 days for the USCIS to confirm your legal presence to the Social Security Administration.

Your card will then be issued and mailed to the Office of International Student and Scholar Services. You will be notified by e-mail of the card's arrival, and advised to come to the ISSS with your Binghamton University ID to pick up your card. You will also be notified if any problem arises that delays the issuing of your card.

As you can see, this is a complicated process and your patience is requested.

8. Did You Apply for OPT in July 2007?  Still Waiting for Your Service Center Receipt?

In late July the Vermont Service Center (VSC) of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) had a tremendous increase in the number of applications filed for Optional Practical Training (OPT) and other authorizations due to the fee increase that went into effect on July 30. 2007. This has delayed processing of all applications significantly.

VSC staff advise students that it may take up to thirty days before the data entry of their OPT application can be completed. This means patience is necessary and that Receipt Notices may not arrive until after one month from the time of submission.

If you have not yet received the Receipt Notice for your OPT application, and you paid the application fee by personal check, your bank can provide you with a copy of the back of your check, once it is cashed by the VSC. The EAC number associated with your application will be on the back of your cashed check. This number will let you track your application at this link: https://egov.uscis.gov/cris/jsps/index.jsp

9. Diversity Visa Lottery 2009 Preliminary Announcement

The U.S. State Department has published a preliminary announcement of the 2009 Diversity Visa Lottery.  The Diversity Visa lottery (DV) is a program mandated under Section 203 (c) of the Immigration Act of 1990. The legislation makes available up to 50,000 permanent resident immigrant visas by random selection through an annual diversity visa lottery.

The registration period will last for approximately sixty days, beginning at noon Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4) on Wednesday, October 3, 2007 and ending at noon Eastern Standard Time (GMT-5) on Sunday, December 2, 2007. As has been the case for the last four years, the Diversity Visa Lottery Program will be conducted entirely on-line via the internet, through the officially designated website: http://www.dvlottery.state.gov.  Paper entries are not accepted.

Individuals born in “High admission" countries, defined as those from which the United States has received more than 50,000 immigrants during the last five years in the immediate relative, family and employment preference categories, are not eligible to apply.  A list of high admission countries is included in the full instructions to be posted shortly.  Last year’s countries (and the list is updated each year) that were not eligible for the diversity visa lottery, included Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russia, South Korea, the United Kingdom and dependent territories, and Vietnam. 

Although China and the United Kingdom are listed as ineligible countries, persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, Taiwan, and Northern Ireland were eligible to apply last year.

To review the preliminary announcement, go to: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html

Complete information and instructions will be posted at the above link within the next 14 days.  Please note that applicants cannot file an electronic application for the Diversity Visa Lottery any earlier than October 3.

ISSS-BU is a listserv owned and managed by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services, Division of Student Affairs, at the State University of New York at Binghamton. It is the publisher of ISSS-BU News . Permission is granted to freely distribute the information posted to this list as long as its contents remain unchanged.