International Student Services is open for business operations Monday to Friday, 8am – 1pm and 2pm to 5pm, excluding observed holidays. Our team is available via Virtual Office Hours on Zoom, email, appointments, and phone.
The University of Florida International Center (UFIC) is always excited that students and scholars from around the globe have chosen UF as the place where they will enhance their academic and professional backgrounds. Our international students and scholars serve as representatives from 154 countries, essentially bringing the world to our campus! In turn, the International Center aims to assist students and scholars as they make the transition from their homeland to the United States, and adjust to life at the University of Florida. Oftentimes students and scholars are accompanied on their journey by their families and we are committed to welcoming them not only into our center, but also into the Gainesville community.
The University of Florida sponsors the following student visa categories:
Degree Seeking Student: A student admitted to pursue a Bachelors, Masters or Doctoral degree program, on a full time basis.
Certificate Student: A student accepted by an academic department to enroll in a full time program, approved for F-1 student enrollment, which will lead to the attainment of a specific educational or professional objective, and culminating in a certificate with the seal of the University of Florida. The student is accepted on a non-degree seeking basis.
Student Intern: An individual currently pursuing a degree at their home institution who is seeking to complete a required internship as part of the current degree requirements. Maximum duration is up to 12 months.
Degree Seeking Student: All admitted degree seeking students whose funding source requires or whose funding source qualifies may utilize the J-1 student visa category.
Non-Degree Student: All Partner School Exchange Students will be sponsored under this category unless they are degree seeking students. Approved general non-degree students and students under current UF cooperative agreements (MOU) will utilize the Non-Degree Student category. Maximum duration is up to 24 months.
Students who study at the University of Florida in another non-immigrant visa category may be required to change to an F-1/J-1 student visa category. This is particularly true for dependent children when approaching the age of 21. A change of status application for a dependent child would need to be filed prior to the 21stbirthday. In some cases, dependent spouses may also need to seek a change in their visa category. The UFIC will be able to advise that individual on the options available for a visa category change if one is needed. Visa statues of Permanent Resident, H-1B, O-1, TN, E-3, EB-1 and EB-2 are handled by UF Immigration Compliance Services located at the main UF Human Resources Building.
The primary services provided by the UF International Center is to process the documentation for new and current international students with their student visas to study in the U.S. Our International Student Services unit is responsible for processing the Form I-20 for students on or seeking a F-1 student visa, and our Exchange Visitor Services unit is responsible for processing the Form DS-2019 for students on or seeking a J-1 student visa.
UFIC is a separate department from the International Admissions Office. The evaluation of the admission application, foreign transcripts, credentials, credits and/or funding decisions are made exclusively by the Office of Admissions and the academic departments. Information about the admissions application process may be accessed via the University of Florida Admissions website: http://www.admissions.ufl.edu/. Undergraduate students may contact the Office of Admissions (international@ufl.edu) with inquiries about the status of their application; graduate students may contact the academic department to which they applied for admission. UFIC works with international students once admission is granted.