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November Newsletter
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OPT Applications for December Graduates -
Don't Forget!
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Early Registration for Spring 2006
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Beginning a New
Degree Program at UNC Charlotte?
·
International Coffee Hour
Dates in November
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Marian and Denise out of
the office Friday-Tuesday, Nov 4-8th
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Thanksgiving Holiday and ISSO
Office Hours
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Announcing the International Club Trip
to NYC!
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Christmas International House Sign-Up
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International
Education Week is Nov. 14-18
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Check the End Date
on your Immigration Documents
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How to request forms Online
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Planning Dec/Jan. Travel Outside the
U.S. - Important Reminders!
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Diversity “Green Card” Lottery
OPT for December Graduates
Remember - students who are
interested in and eligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT) must apply
PRIOR TO GRADUATION. For December graduates, this is December 1st
2005. More information is available at
http://www.isso.uncc.edu/optcpt.htm or in the ISSO.
Early Registration for Spring 2006
Spring 2006 registration begins
on Monday, November 7, 2005. The Schedule of Courses is available at
www.uncc.edu and use the “Current Student” tab at
the top left of the page. Then access the “Available Course Sections” link in
the Hot Links box.
For undergraduates, don’t
forget to schedule an appointment with your academic advisor!
Beginning a New Degree
Program at UNC Charlotte?
If you are moving from a
Bachelor to a Master, Master to PhD, or PhD to Master in the spring semester, it
is critical that your immigration record reflect this change and a new I-20 or
DS-2019 be created for you. Please pick up your new document at the beginning
of the spring semester in the ISSO, or if you are traveling outside the U.S.
during the winter break, pick it up prior to your departure, as you MUST use
this new document to re-enter the U.S.
International Coffee Hour
Dates in November
Thursday, November 3rd
, 4-6pm
Thursday, November 17th,
4-6pm (celebrating International Education Week!)
Marian and Denise out of
the office, Nov 4-8
We’ll be at a conference and
unable to do any advising on these two days. Please plan accordingly.
Thanksgiving Holiday and Office
Hours
As you may or may not know,
there are no classes from Wednesday, Nov.23rd through Saturday, Nov.
26th and the ISSO will be closed on Thursday and Friday of that
week. The actual Thanksgiving holiday is on Thursday, Nov. 24.
For more information about this and other U.S. holidays, you can visit
www.holidays.net
International Club Trip to NYC
Nothing to
do during the Thanksgiving holiday? Go visit New York City with the
International Club! Bus leaves Tues. Nov. 22nd, returning on Sun.
Nov. 26th. Cost is $190 for members, $225 for non-members.
Registration begins Friday, November 4th. Visit
http://www/sco.uncc.edu/intlclub for more information and how to
sign-up.
Christmas International House
Are you interested in spending the Christmas holiday with an American family in
another part of the U.S.? Consider applying for Christmas International House,
an ecumenical program started in 1965 by the Presbyterian Church (USA). For more
information and an application, visit
www.christmasih.org
“International
Education Week”: November 14-18
Preparations are underway
nationwide for the 6th Annual International Education Week, November
14-18, part of the implementation of President Clinton’s directive calling for
an International education policy for the United States. Your being here is an
important part of this commitment to the mutual exchange of ideas, leading
toward intercultural understanding and more peaceful relations in the world.
For more information, go to
http://exchanges.state.gov/iew/statements/paige.htm.
Check the End Date on
your Immigration Documents
Just a reminder to take a
look at the ending date on your I-20 (item #5) or DS-2019 (item #3). If you
still need more time to finish your program, you MUST fill out a Program
Extention Form from the ISSO prior to the end date on your document so that we
can produce a new document for you.
Requesting Forms Online
Did you know you can request
forms such as OPT/CPT, letters of enrollment, letters for invitations, etc.
online? Well, you can, and it’s easy! Visit the ISSO website:
www.isso.uncc.edu , click on the “immigration/visas/travel" tab then
“request forms”, and start requesting the forms you need.
Planning International Travel?
The holidays are approaching
and if you are traveling outside the U.S. you should take a look at your
immigration documents to make sure everything is in order for your re-entry. Is
your passport valid? Is your visa valid? Is your I-20 or DS-2019 valid? Has
it been signed on p.3 (I-20s) or p.1 (DS-2019s) by either Marian or Denise in
the last year? If you need a signature, please bring it to the ISSO in early
December and leave 2-3 days processing time rather than waiting until the LAST
MINUTE to get this done!
Diversity “Green Card” Lottery
The annual DV program
makes permanent residence visas available to persons meeting the simple, but
strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants for Diversity Visas are chosen by a
computer-generated random lottery drawing. The visas, however, are distributed
among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going to regions
with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to citizens of
countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five
years. Within each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of
the available Diversity Visas in any one year.
For DV-2006, natives of
the following countries are not eligible to apply because they sent a total of
more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years:
CANADA, CHINA
(mainland-born), COLOMBIA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA,
JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, RUSSIA, SOUTH KOREA, UNITED KINGDOM
(except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM. Persons
born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
For more information, go to
http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/divvisa.htm
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