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International Admissions Requirements
Office of International Education

• International Student Admission Requirements
• International Students Currently Attending an Educational Institution in the U.S.
• I-20 Issuance for International Students
• Contact Us

International Student Admission Requirements

In addition to the admission requirements that all prospective students must meet, international applicants must provide the following:

• Evidence of proficiency in the English language that meet one of the following standards established by the faculty of SUNY-ESF:

• Financial evidence of the ability to meet all of the financial obligations which will be incurred while attending the College for the duration of the academic program.
  In order to obtain an I-20 from ESF, a potential F-1 student must complete the “FSA-4 - Foreign Student Financial Statement Form” and submit credible documentary evidence that they have enough readily available funds to meet all expenses (tuition, fees, and living expenses) for the entire first year of study. (It is expected that barring unforeseen circumstances, students will have adequate funds available for each subsequent year of study from the same source or from one or more other specifically identified and reliable financial sources.)

  Documentation of sufficient funding may come from any combination of dependable sources, including scholarships, assistantships, fellowships, sponsoring agencies, personal funds, or funds from a student's family. Documentation of scholarships, assistantships, and fellowships must be in the form of an official award letter from the school or sponsoring agency; documentation of personal or family funds should be on an official signed letter of support from the bank that includes the U.S. dollar amount of support and certified bank statements which indicate that the sponsor has sufficient funds to meet a student's first-year expenses at ESF (the bank statement does not have to show the full amount of the account), or in the form of a legally binding affidavit. The Form I-134, "Affidavit of Support," can be used to document support being provided by a U.S. citizen or U.S. legal permanent resident. Government-sponsored applicants should submit a certified copy of the award letter that includes the U.S. dollar amount of the award per year, the duration of the award, and a list of expenses covered by the award.

• Complete translations into English of all transcripts required by the admissions application without any additions or deletions by the translators. Translations of documents by the applicant will not be accepted. Credential evaluator and translation services for academic documents may be found through the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).
• Submission of the State University of New York Foreign Student Admission forms. No fee is required for processing these forms.
• Copy of the passport should be submitted with application materials.

International Students Currently Attending an Educational Institution in the U.S.

In addition to the entrance requirements for other international students, international students who are currently enrolled at a U.S. educational institution must obtain permission (usually through a Transfer-Out Form) from their current educational institution to transfer their SEVIS record to ESF. Students will also have to complete a SUNY-ESF SEVIS Transfer-In Form (F-1 Students / J-1) so that ESF is aware of when your current institution will release your SEVIS record to ESF so that a new I-20 or DS-2019 can be issued for the ESF program of study. Additional information about transferring your SEVIS record to ESF is available online.

I-20 Issuance for International Students

An I-20, required for the F-1 student visa application, will be issued once a student has:

1. Been officially admitted to ESF;
2. Submitted adequate financial support documentation for at least one year of expenses at ESF;
3. Submitted the Commitment to Enroll Form (included in the acceptance materials) indicating that you will attend ESF in the upcoming semester;
4. Submitted the New International Student Information Form
   1. New Undergraduate International Student Information Form
   2. New Graduate International Student Information Form
5. Submitted a passport copy.

Once all of the above materials have been received, an I-20 will be issued and mailed to the prospective international student by either Undergraduate Admissions or the Graduate School.

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