My understanding of the F-1 regulations is that if there's not a rule against it, it's permissable. In this case, I'd say that an F-1 student on OPT can indeed start a company, though it may not be very practical to do so, since the work permit only lasts a year. If you wanted to stay beyond that year of OPT, seeking a job with an established company and asking them to file an H-1B visa petition on your behalf would be a better option.

2. How can illegal immigrants study in the USA? We get so many questions like this, people are really desperate. We've already recieved several answers from DSOs but we are still confused. It looks like most schools find ways to avoid enrolling illegal immigrants.

Technically a school cannot descriminate against someone based on their immigration status. Admissions office's are supposed to determine people's
admissibility without regard to their legal visa status.

That said, you have the choice of attending school as an in-status student with the full-benefits of your visa catagory (legal work permission, etc.),
or you can go through your entire program of study without being in-status, and without having such benefits. Technically a school cannot deny your
admission on that basis, though they're not going to tell you that upfront.

The long-term benefits of staying in-status, of course, are that you could eventually establish permanent residency, though this won't happen if you choose to remain out of status. If all you want to do is get your degree and go back home, this isn't as big a deal for you.

3. A student comes on an F-1 visa with an I-20 from one school and changes her mind before registering. Is it possible to transfer to another school or she would lose her status and will have to be reinstated? - We got one answer but we would like to double-check.

It is possible, though remaining in-status depends on the individual advisors that are involved. There's a range of opinions within the field about these things. On the more strick side, International Student Advisors would regard someone as being out of status if they didn't attend the first school for at least one academic term before attempting to transfer. Others
are much more relaxed about this, going so far as to accept a faxed copy on the student's travel documents for their files. To some extend it depends on things such as whether the student was expected to fill a research or teaching assistantship. In this situation the Int'l. Student Advisor tends to hold the student to the more strict interpretation of the law.

4. Many ISOs write on their websites that if a student can't get reinstated in status through the regular procedure there's an option of going abroad and reentering the US. We would expect that INS would realize that the student is out-of-status and deny him reentry. Is there a trick? None of these sites goes into details, they only suggest "talking to the Advisor".

This procedure has evolved over time. Technically leaving the U.S. and returning is not a reinstatement, per se. If the student shows proof of financial resources for one academic year so as to obtain a new I-20 for "initial attendance," the effect is to be "reinstated" to F-1 status as the document is inspected and processed at the port of entry. For a brief time
if was also required that the person obtain a new entry visa in the process, but this is no longer the case.

INS instructed ISAs to go about it this way in light of the rather strict consequences imposed on out-of-status students by the illegal immigration law of 1996. It was understood that the time clock for the three and ten-year bars to reentry would be started if a student applied for reinstatement and was denied. Since that time there's been very little incentive to actually apply for a reinstatement, unless you were almost guaranteed of being granted the reinstatement.

The problem with this alternative method of getting oneself back into status is that its much less convenient for people living on the other side of the
world, as opposed to those coming from places where flights home are less expensive.

Once a person has returned and is back in status (assuming the port-of-entry person actually stamped the I-20), he or she would have to be "in-status"
for another academic year before it would be possible to apply for an off-campus work permit. (So this option isn't very helpful for someone who is out-of-status who only have one academic term before completion.)

Also, the port-of-entry officials haven't always known what to do with an I-20 for "initial attendance" that also shows a previous admission number. Most ISAs won't type "Reinstatement" on the I-20, as they would be concerned about not jeapardizing the person's future.

5. A student has to be in the US for at least 60 days to apply for a change of status or to apply for a school?

No, but if you enter the U.S. on a B-2 tourist visa for a six-month stay, it would be more plausible (in the eyes of INS) for you to tour around for a while before stumbling across an academic program that you might want to pursue. If you enter the U.S. and immediately apply for a change of status to F-1, the person looking over your documents will assume that you had no original intent of being a tourist. (INS seems to put a lot of stock in the idea that people's visa catagory should be consistent with their origially stated intent.)

A B-2 tourist who comes to the U.S. in August and starts school that same month should apply for a change of status to F-1 sometime during the second half of his or her six-month stay. The I-20 should indicate a start date of the next academic term (January). It would also help to say in one's letter to INS that you've been accepted for study at (whatever school), without stating outright that you're already attending classes.

This procedure (for "reinstatement") has evolved over time. Technically, leaving the U.S. and returning is not a reinstatement, per se. If the student shows proof of financial resources for one academic year so as to obtain a new I-20 for "initial attendance," the effect is to be "reinstated" to F-1 status as the document is inspected and processed at the port of entry. For a brief time it was also required that the person obtain a new entry visa in the process, but this is no longer the case, (assuming your F-1 entry visa is still valid).

I've added that last clause in parenthases to clarify my meaning.

No problem.

There's one point I am still not clear about: If a student is out of status, what can she tell the INS when she leaves the country? I thought that an out-of-status student would be considered illegal, especially if she was out of status for several months. Or she is supposed to leave and reenter the US as soon as she loses her status? Or she can use the 60 days grace period?

I'm not aware of students being interviewed by INS on their way out of the U.S. Typically (I believe) people just hand over their I-94 card on their way out, no questions asked. Its when they come back that they have to worry about having the right documents in order.

As for the 60 day grace period, the law is written such that a person has 60 days from the completion of their program to either a) apply for a work permit under Optional Practical Training, b) apply for a change of visa classification, c) obtain a new I-20 for a new program of study, or d) leave the U.S.

If a person drops their courses or is otherwise "out-of-status," they're expected to either apply for a reinstatement, or leave as soon as possible. The 60-day rule doesn't really apply, but such a person would otherwise be expected to leave within "a reasonable amount of time."

The law doesn't actually specify what "a reasonable amount of time" is in this case, and some people certainly abuse it.

For the sake of the person in question, she should try to leave as soon as she can, though unless she were to get herself in some other serious trouble, I'm confindent that INS would not be searching for her so as to forcibly deport her. (If she were caught working illegally in an INS raid of some business, this would be a big problem for her, but otherwise they're too busy with other things to isolate one student who dropped out.)

If the person does go home, she could apply for a new I-20 and return in-status. This would be her best option, it would seem.

The three and ten year bars to reentry would not take effect unless she applied for and was denied reinstatement, and then overstayed for 180 or 360 days (respectively) from the time of the decision. That would be her worst case scenario. Best to just leave, rather than take the chance of being denied reinstatement.

Again, I don't see any problems for her departure from the U.S. She'll just need to apply for a new program of study and get a new I-20 once she's ready to return as a full-time student.

By the way, I used to work as an international student advisor, but became extremely frustated with the ambiguity of our laws, and also with the perspective that many schools seem to have toward international students. I'm happy to see your message board on the web, as it seems to be a very constructive service (though with some people you may have to be somewhat careful about certain off-hand comments that are intended in light humor). Anyway, I'll try to contribe as I can.