Maintenance of Status

F-1 and J-1 students will find information pertaining to maintaining their immigration status in this section.  The international student advisers in ISSA assist students in maintaining their status, but ultimately maintenance of status is the individual student's responsibility.  Students should read the information in this section carefully.

Addresses and Other Contact Information

Immigration regulations require all individuals in F and J visa status (including any dependents) to report address information and any changes to address information. You are responsible to report both your home country address and your local U.S. address.

Required Information Reporting

  • Permanent or Home Address (outside of the U.S.)
    • You are required to have an address outside of the United States if you are in a non-immigrant status.
    • You must update any address changes in Account Management.
  • Local U.S. Address
    • This is the address where you live and sleep in the U.S.
    • ISSA is required by law to report this information to SEVIS
    • You must update any address changes in Account Management.
    • Please verify the proper format for your local address at usps.com.
  • Work Address
    • If you are a graduate student and have a departmental mailbox or office, use this address as your work address
  • Emergency Contact
    • This will be the person whom the University will contact if you are seriously ill or injured
  • Telephone
    • Home country phone number
    • Local phone number
    • Mobile phone number – add this even if you are repeating a local number
    • Be sure to set up voicemail on your cell phone– ISSA will only call you for important issues

Employment

If you change your address and are working on campus, you must fill out a new W-4 form with your Penn State Employer. All off-campus employment requires authorization through ISSA.

Once You Leave Penn State

If you remain active in SEVIS on a Penn State document, while working through Optional Practical Training for example, you must continue to report any address changes. Once you no longer have access to Lionpath, please complete the OPT EMPLOYER AND LOCAL ADDRESS UPDATE eFORM through iStart.