International applicants are strongly encouraged to submit their application for admission ten months prior to their intended semester of entry.

The Certificate of Eligibility Form I-20 will be issued to admitted applicants who request and are eligible for an F-1 visa. As part of the eligibility requirement, a student must provide evidence of financial resources and a copy of their passport.

F-1 students may not hold appointments that total more than 20 hours per week when school is in session, and full-time during vacation period provided the student intends to register in the following semester. Twelve months of optional practical training in a study program may be authorized. Dependents of F-1 students cannot be employed.

A DS-2019 Form will be issued to admitted applicants who request and are eligible for a J-1 visa. As part of the eligibility requirement, a student must provide evidence of financial resources and a copy of their passport.

Applicants sponsored by their governments, international foundations, or agencies, who receive at least 50 percent of their funding from any source other than personal or family funds, or who are part of a university exchange are eligible to receive this form. Entry into the U.S. is only for the total period of the study program as specified on the DS-2019. J-1 students may work on or off-campus only with written approval from their sponsor. Students may participate in up to 18 months of academic training and up to 36 months of post-doctoral training. Changing visa category is very difficult and may not be allowed. J-1 visa holders may be subject to a 2-year home country residence requirement. Dependents on J-2 visas may seek employment.

A student may not enroll or pursue studies while on a B1/B2 or F-2 visa.

A student may choose to enroll and pursue studies while on an H-1 visa or they may choose to change status to a student visa. However, please note that an H-1 visa holder cannot hold a graduate assistantship appointment. If you choose to remain on a non-student visa during your studies at Illinois, you will need to upload a copy of your U.S. visa in your online application.

Information regarding the SEVIS I-901 Fee may be obtained from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security website.

funding requirements:

All international applicants requesting visa eligibility documents (I-20 or DS-2019) are required to demonstrate that they have adequate financial resources to cover the cost of their education while in the United States. Financial documentation is required as part of the application process in order for visa eligibility documents (I-20 or DS-2019) to the U.S. to be issued. International applicants should upload the following documentation directly to the online application. Note that this documentation may be submitted after you submit your graduate application. 

funding sources:

If the student will provide funding from personal funds, a Bank Statement with sufficient funding for at least one year’s total cost* is required. Please refer to the PDF of the Declaration and Certification of Finances form for specific expense amounts.

If a family or other personal sponsor will provide funding, a Bank Statement with sufficient funding for at least one year’s total cost* is required. One of the following additional documents is also required: Declaration and Certification of Finances form verifying sponsorship for full length and cost of the program OR signed Letter of Sponsorship detailing amounts and length of sponsorship.

If an employer, government or organization will provide funding, a signed Letter of Sponsorship detailing amounts and length of sponsorship is required.

FUNDING documentation - bank statements:

You must obtain a bank statement from your bank (web printouts are acceptable for online banking) showing the bank's letterhead or logo, and bank stamp or bank signature.

The statement must show sufficient funding for one year’s costs* (or amount of sponsorship for one year), must be dated within one year of submission, and must show funding in liquid accounts, such as savings, checking, money market accounts, or CDs.

Non-liquid funding such as stocks, bonds, auto/land deeds are not acceptable forms of financial support.

Solvency and opinion statements are not acceptable forms of financial support.

FUNDING DOCUMENTATION - declaration and certification of finance forms:

The sponsor must sign and print his/her name and relationship to the student, and the form must be dated within one year of submission. Signing this document verifies sponsorship for the full length and cost of the program.

The form is available in PDF format here.

FUNDING DOCUMENTATION - letters of sponsorship:

You must obtain an official letter of sponsorship from the sponsor that includes a signature or stamp showing the authenticity of the letter. The letter must detail amounts and length of sponsorship and be dated within one year of submission.

uploading funding documentation:

• You are required to upload a copy of your all proof of funding documentation if requesting an I-20 or DS-2019. English translations should be included if the documentation is not in English.
• Non-legible scans will not be accepted.
• Please do not mail or fax in a copy of this documentation which you have uploaded to your online application. Instead, use only the upload feature of our online application at this point. This saves you the time, effort, and expense of mailing financial documents to us during the initial processing and review of your application. It also avoids any delays resulting from the non-receipt of financial documents and assures you that your documents have been successfully submitted, since you can view them yourself online.
• Please obtain an electronic version of your proof of financial documentation (bank statements, declaration forms, letters of sponsorship) or scan a copy of the document you may already have and that is current, at the lowest resolution that results in a legible document (we recommend using under 200 dpi whenever possible.
• You may upload an institutional web-based bank statement if the financial institution has put your name on the statement.
• You must ensure that your name, the financial institution name, and other identifying marks are not missed during the scanning process and that your scanned copy is clearly legible and can print on letter size paper - 8.5 by 11 in (21.5 by 30 cm).
• Please be certain that your document is saved as a PDF file or Word document. Scanning in “gray scale” or black and white may produce the best results.
• If the scanned file is too large you may want to make a photocopy first (experiment with different settings until you find one that results in the smallest file size) then scan the photocopy. 

The University of Illinois reserves the right to require official proof of funding documentation at any time during the SEVIS review process.

*Note that J-1 students will be required to show proof of funding (via bank statement) for the entire cost of the program (or the portion for which funds are being covered by personal or other individual sponsor funding).