A coach has offered you a place, you have accepted, and the scholarship is agreed. One step is left before you can play: the student visa. The visa for full-time study at a US college or university is the F-1. The steps follow a fixed order, and most delays come from starting late or arriving at the interview with a missing paper.
This guide is general information taken from official US government sources, checked in November 2026. It is not legal advice. Your school's international office and the US embassy or consulate decide your individual case, and their instructions come first.
Step 1: admission and the Form I-20 from the school
An athletic offer is not admission. You also have to be admitted by the university itself, through its normal application, and only a school certified by SEVP, the US government program for schools that accept international students, can issue the form you need for the visa.
Once you are admitted, the school's international office enters you into SEVIS, the government database of international students, and sends you a Form I-20. The I-20 is your "Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status". It shows your program, your program start date and your SEVIS ID. Before the school signs it, it must review proof that you can pay your costs, so expect to show how the part of the bill your scholarship does not cover will be paid.
You and the school official both sign the I-20. If you are under 18, your parents sign it for you. Check every detail on it: your name as in your passport, your date of birth, the start date. A mistake on the I-20 travels into every later form.
Step 2: pay the SEVIS I-901 fee
The SEVIS I-901 fee is currently $350 for F-1 students, according to the ICE fee page. You pay it online at fmjfee.com, the official payment site, with the school code and SEVIS ID from your I-20. It must be paid before your visa interview, and it cannot be paid in person at the embassy. Print the receipt. You need to show proof of payment at the interview.
This fee is separate from the visa application fee in the next step. Some schools also charge their own fee for handling your SEVIS record, which is a third, separate cost.
Step 3: fill in the DS-160 and pay the visa fee
The DS-160 is the online visa application form. You upload your photo while filling it in, and at the end you print the confirmation page with its barcode. Have these ready before you start: your passport, your I-20 with the SEVIS ID and school address, your travel history to the US, and your school and work history.
The form also asks for every social media username you have used on each platform in the last five years. Since June 2025 the State Department asks all F, M and J applicants to set their social media profiles to public, so consular officers can review them. The US Embassy in Spain says that not doing so may lead to delays or a refusal.
The visa application fee, called the MRV fee, is currently $185 for student visas, as listed on the State Department's embassy information pages. It is not refunded if the visa is refused. Some nationalities also pay an extra issuance fee, and US fees change, so check the current fee list on your embassy's website before you pay.
Step 4: the interview at the US embassy or consulate
You book the interview online with the barcode from your DS-160. Book it in your country of nationality or the country where you live. Since September 2025 the State Department expects nonimmigrant visa applicants to do this, and an application elsewhere can be harder to approve, with fees not refunded.
Plan on going in person. Since October 2025 almost all nonimmigrant visa applicants need an in-person interview. The remaining exceptions cover diplomats and some renewals of visitor and farm-worker visas, not first student visas.
What to bring:
- your passport
- the signed Form I-20, the original
- the DS-160 confirmation page
- the SEVIS fee receipt and your appointment confirmation
- school records: transcripts, your diploma or leaving certificate, and test scores your US school asked for
- proof of how you will pay school, living and travel costs, such as your scholarship letter and bank statements
- evidence that you plan to leave the US when your studies end
The consular officer may ask for any of these. Answer questions about your studies and your sport plainly and in your own words. Embassies usually admit only the applicant to the waiting area, with exceptions such as a parent or guardian of a minor.
When to start, and when you may arrive
A student visa can be issued up to 365 days before the program start date on your I-20. That gives you time, so use it. Apply as soon as the I-20 arrives. Appointment waits vary by country, and the US Embassy in Spain says it cannot move an appointment earlier only because your program starts before it.
Entry is stricter. You may enter the US no more than 30 days before the start date on your I-20. Fall sports like soccer often begin preseason training before classes start. If your team expects you earlier than 30 days before your I-20 date, raise it with your coach and the international office in good time. They decide how the dates are set. Studying after entering on a visitor visa or the visa waiver is not allowed.
Plan the season around these dates with our recruiting timeline for international athletes, which puts the visa step after your NCAA or NAIA eligibility paperwork. That paperwork has its own steps, covered in how NCAA eligibility works for international athletes.
Work on an F-1 visa
An F-1 visa lets you study, not work freely. The rules from Study in the States, the government's site for international students:
- On campus: you may work on campus, but no more than 20 hours a week while school is in session. Ask the international office first. You can apply up to 30 days before classes start.
- Off campus: this is only open to F-1 students who have completed at least one full academic year, and it needs approval in advance. You may not start work while an application is pending.
Your scholarship is not a job. Training, matches and team travel take a large part of the week, so count the hours before you take a campus job. If anyone offers you money for anything beyond your scholarship, ask the international office before you accept.
Budget for the visa early
The visa fees are small next to tuition, but you pay them before you leave home. Count them in when you compare offers, along with what academic aid can take off the bill, as our guide to academic merit scholarships explains.
If you are still at the stage before any offer, the Varsio quiz ranks US college teams in your sport by how well they fit you, so the visa questions come once there is a school to go to.