Office of International Students & Scholars

PRE-ORIENTATION NEWSLETTER August 2019

NEW UPDATES!

NEW! “E-Check-in” Option You can now UPLOAD CHECK-IN DOCUMENTS ONLINE via the OISS Portal! Save tons of time by submitting copies/pictures of your documents (passport, visa, port-of-entry stamp in passport, I-20 or DS-2019, I-94, etc.) along with the online Check-in Form before coming to OISS. Don’t forget to click “Submit for Approval” after uploading so we get the notification that you have started the E-Check-in process! Remember, you will still be required to attend the “Advisor Session” part of Check-in for our mandatory presentation. :)

With orientation quickly approaching, we can’t wait to meet you. We have just a few final reminders for you regarding your compliance requirements upon arrival.

The Complete Process The international graduate student post-arrival intake process is 4 STEPS: 1. Document check-in – immigration documents to be verified by OISS for compliance

NEW! E-Check-in option (complete this step before coming to OISS) In-Person option (bring your immigration documents to OISS for copies)

2. Advisor Session (preferably completed by August 15 or 16) 3. ESTHER address update (https://esther.rice.edu) 4. GIO – Graduate International Orientation (August 19 and 20, hosted by OISS)

All parts must be completed by Tuesday, August 20 to avoid a registration hold. Upon completing all 4 required steps, you will be in compliance and ready to begin your program!

For details please visit http://oiss.rice.edu/orientation (screenshot shown below).

1. When can I upload my documents? Answer: Right Away!

2. When can I attend the OISS check-in? Answer: See the schedule on our website at https://oiss.rice.edu/orientation and click on “STEP 2: Advisor Session.” No registration required.

3. How long does this take? Answer: If you uploaded all check-in documents online, you only need to attend the “Advisor Ses-sion” presentation, which is about 1 hour.

If you will bring your physical documents to OISS for copies instead of the “E-Check-in”, it will take about 1.5 hours.

NEW EVENT! Come and join your fellow “owls” at the Rice Stadium next Saturday, August 17th, for a free and fun event! See advertisement above.

Driver License Notice

New F-1 and J-1 students are not eligible to apply for a Texas driver license immediately after arriving in Houston. Typically you are subject to two separate wait times:

1. Residency Requirement: You must live in Texas for at least 30 days before you are eligible for a Texas driver license. This wait time may sometimes be waived if you have a valid license from another U.S. state at the time you are otherwise eligible to apply.

2. Lawful Status Requirement: DPS uses an electronic system, SAVE, to verify lawful status. For F-1 students, SAVE is unable to veri-fy lawful status until after the academic semester has started and your new program has been regis-tered in SEVIS at least 10 days prior. You will know once your SEVIS registration is complete because at that time a new I-20 will be issued for you. SAVE should be able to successfully verify your lawful status 10 days after the issue date printed on the I-20. For more information, please see https://oiss.rice.edu/driving & https://oiss.rice.edu/dps-faq.

As always, please feel free to send any questions to OISS@rice.edu and we look forward to hosting you in the coming weeks!

Join us for the

“Apollo 11” IMAX movie the day before classes begin (August 25, 2019)

Inquire in the OISS about ticket sales

($6). Warm regards,

Irena & Your OISS Team