 You can enter the United States 30 days before your program start date. It is also a good idea to carry your original documents with you at all times. Don't put them in your check baggage. Make at least two copies of these documents. One copy to leave with your family before you depart and another to give to your international student advisor or DSO. Also, be sure to carry your name and contact information of your school official. If there is a 24-hour emergency contact phone number at your school, be sure to include that too. What happens if I just forget a document? Am I going to be told to go back home to my country or what would happen if, say, I forgot my I-20 or something like that happened? I think maybe that bends a little bit on the question you just answered, but... If you forget your I-20, you have a valid visa and on primary the officer will refer to secondary. On secondary, that's where CBP will actually issue the I-515A and you can bring that I-515 to your school as a need of official and they'll work with you. As an international student, if I'm arriving in the U.S., I've made it through customs and that, okay. What are my next steps of going to campus? I know I'm really excited at that point probably. What do I do to make sure that I'm meeting all the correct things? Well, the first thing you want to do, even before you get to campus, is to call your DSO. Just let them know that you have arrived in the United States. The next thing that you want to do, once you've arrived on campus, the first thing that you want to go do is go see your DSO. When you're an issue to the I-20, you're issued that with a program start date. Basically, that program start date indicates to CBP and the rest of the U.S. government that you are starting your program on this date. So, as soon as you arrive on campus, go see your DSO, tell them that you're here, you're ready to start studying, you're ready to start classes, ready to move into your dorm and they'll basically know that this person has arrived on the date that's the program start date and they're ready to go. As a student visa holder, how many times can I apply for a renewal? Actually, as long as you are continuing to enroll in classes and you're making progress towards completion of a degree or a certificate, you can stay as long as you need to study. So, if you start with the bachelor's, you can go to master's, then you can go to PhD. Your F1 non-ingrant status is as good as your studying last, basically.