OK if you can’t swing the fee

Evelyn Padilla, by email If your brother can show an “inability to pay,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services will waive the filing fee for his new certificate application. With his form N-565, Application for Replacement of Naturalization/Citizenship Document, he files form I-912, request for fee waiver. Readers should note that USCIS will also grant a fee waiver for other forms, including I-90, Application for Employment Authorization; N-400, Application for Naturalization; and N-600, Application for Certification of Citizenship (for individuals who derived citizenship automatically through a parent).

AQPalak, by email It’s getting hard to get a change from B-2 visitor to F-1 student status, so I am recommending it less these

Adays. If you want to try, get expert help. You’ll need to file USCIS form I-539, Application To Extend/Change Nonimmigrant Status, with form I-20, Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status.

You can expect to wait up to a year for Citizenship and Immigration Services to decide your change of status request. USCIS will not approve a change to F-1 status if you’re out of status more than 30 days when it adjudicates your change of status request. So, to maintain your lawful status, you’ll need to file a second form I-539 to extend your visitor’s stay.

Prospective students are often afraid to apply for their student visa abroad, worried that the consul will deny their application and that they’ll be stuck outside the United States. But given that a consul trusted you enough to grant you a B-2 visa, and that you’ve studied previously in the United States, your chances of getting an F-1 visa abroad are good.