Announcements from the OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT & SCHOLAR SERVICES (OISSS)

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Diversity Visa Program (Green Card Lottery) open as of October 2nd

The U.S. Department of State will be accepting applications for the 2026 Diversity Visa Program from Wednesday, October 2 until noon on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. 

Students in F-1 or J-1 status (and their dependents) are eligible to apply, except those born in the following countries: Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, The People’s Republic of China (including mainland and Hong Kong born), Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Venezuela, and Vietnam. (Natives of Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.)

You can apply each year and, if selected in the lottery, may be issued a green card (permanent residency). There is no application fee. More information can be found here: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/immigrate/diversity-visa-program-entry/diversity-visa-submit-entry1.html

Instructions (PDF) can be accessed here: https://travel.state.gov/content/dam/visas/Diversity-Visa/DV-Instructions-Translations/DV-2026-Instructions-Translations/DV%202026%20Plain%20Language%20Instructions%20and%20FAQs.pdf

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“CPT 101” for F-1 Undergraduates

OISSS and The College International Student Advising team are offering two sessions to introduce undergraduate students to Professional Track and Non-Professional Track Curricular Practical Training (CPT) work authorization for off-campus employment:

• Wednesday, October 30, 12 – 1pm in Petteruti Lounge

• Wednesday, November 6, 2 - 3pm (Zoom)

Two additional sessions specifically on the Independent Study Proposal for non-professional track CPT will be offered later in the semester.  

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Check Your Travel Signature

If you will be traveling outside the U.S., please check the travel signature on page 2 of your I-20 (J-1 students can find their travel signature on page 1 of their DS-2019). Travel signatures are valid for 1 year (6 months on post-completion OPT) and can be used multiple times before they expire. 

Request a travel signature through your OISSS Gateway Portal account if the travel signature has expired. Click on the “Requests & Documents” tab and submit the Reprint/Travel Signature Request to have a new I-20 or DS-2019 with travel signature issued. For further information about travel, please review this webpage: https://oisss.brown.edu/traveling/what-bring-when-traveling  

When entering the U.S., you must present a printed I-20/DS-2019, along with a valid passport with unexpired F-1/J-1 visa to a U.S. customs officer to be admitted to the U.S. in F-1/J-1 status. DO NOT use a nexus or global entry self-check kiosk to enter the U.S. Upon re-entry to the U.S., check your most recent I-94 arrival record to confirm that you have been re-admitted in F-1/J-1 status. 

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Address/Phone Number Reporting

We would like to remind you that as an F-1/J-1 student, you are required to report changes to your U.S. physical (residential) address and U.S. phone number within 10 days of the change. 

 Changes should be reported in your Brown University Banner Self Service record. Adding or changing the Local (LO) address in your Brown Banner record will push the address data to your OISSS Gateway portal.

 Undergraduate Students living on campus in the residence halls are exempt from updating their address as on-campus addresses are automatically updated and forwarded to us. However, please provide your cell phone number if you have not already done so.

Undergraduate Students living off campus, and all Graduate Students should list where they are physically residing and should use the USPS tool linked below to make sure the format of the address being entered is USPS compliant: https://tools.usps.com/zip-code-lookup.htm?byaddress

Reminder for students living off campus: Please do not list your department address or your campus mail box. You are required to provide your actual U.S. residential address.

Please make sure that your U.S. phone number (Cell or Local) is listed in your Brown Banner record in the following format without dashes or special characters

ex. [Area Code] _ _ _ (3 digits -  e.g. 401 for Rhode Island)

[Phone Number] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (7 digits)

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