Understanding VIS Request Status

Note: this information page is provided as a courtesy only. The actual information provided by the VIS may change. Therefore, if you have any further question about the status of a request you made with VIS, please contact VIS directly.

Overview

Students on a visa (e.g., F-1) apply through the Visa and Immigration Services (VIS) portal, called AccessVIS, for requests to go on part-time status ("underload"), Curricular Practical Training (CPT, for internships), Optional Practical Training (OPT, for full-time jobs after graduation), etc.

The request process has three steps:

  1. You apply via AccessVIS for a specific authorization or benefit (e.g., part-time/underload status, CPT). As soon as you apply initially via AccessVIS, your request is routed to the CS department for approval.
  2. Once VIS routes the electronic request to the CS department, the CS department performs internal checks to ensure that the students meet department requirements for the specific request. For example, students cannot go on an internship (CPT) if they've got a GPA less than 3.0, an "I" grade, haven't completed all MS Proficiencies assigned, and more. See the CS Graduate Handbook for all the details of department requirements.
  3. Finally, the request, once approved by the department, is routed back to VIS for final review (please allow 5-7 business days).
Only after all three steps are completed, will your request be processed. Both VIS and the CS Department are very busy, often processing dozens of requests a day: it can take several days to get your request fully approved.

Step by Step Instructions to Find Your Status

The screenshots below demonstrate what you'll see when logging into AccessVIS, and what it means. We've annotated the screenshots in red to highlight key parts (the portions marked "redacted" have been masked out to remove personally identifying information). When you first login to AccessVIS, you'll see this home page:

Note that the portion "Recent Notes / Correspondence" shown above contain useful correspondence from VIS, but it may not be the most recent status of your request. For example, the note marked as "awaiting departmental approval" could be old because the department had already approved the request. To find out the most recent status of your request, first expand the "F-1 Student Services" menu on the left side. You'll see it as follows:

To find out the precise, most recent status of your request, click on the relevant option under the "F-1 Student Services" menu. Below, it is shown for a request to go on part-time status (e.g., "underload" in the last semester), but it would be the same for a CPT request, OPT, etc.

Specifically, if the request status above says "PENDING", then it means that it is pending with VIS (e.g., final step 3 of the process after departmental approval). Conversely, when the request is pending within the actual CS department (step 2 above), the request status under the "F-1" menus would show up looking differently, as follows:

In the above case, if the request is pending within the department for more than five business days, then please contact us by email and we'll check the status of your request.

(Last updated: 2020-08-27)