{"id":508,"date":"2021-12-10T12:48:12","date_gmt":"2021-12-10T17:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/isss\/?page_id=508"},"modified":"2024-10-25T10:08:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T14:08:21","slug":"voluntary-leave-of-absence-withdrawal","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/voluntary-leave-of-absence-withdrawal\/","title":{"rendered":"Voluntary Leave of Absence\/Withdrawal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>If you are taking a leave or are withdrawing from the college without a medical letter of support, your leave is considered a voluntary leave of absence. F-1 students taking a voluntary leave of absence must have their F-1 immigration records closed for the duration of the leave. Please follow the steps below for requesting and returning from a voluntary leave of absence:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Student should review the immigration implications (see below) of a leave of absence\/withdrawal.<\/li>\n<li>Student should review the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/student-affairs\/student-support-and-advising\/leaves-of-absence-withdrawals-dismissals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leave of Absence, Withdrawal &amp; Dismissals<\/a> page for procedural information.<\/li>\n<li>Student should contact the DSO in the Center for Global Education to discuss plans and how the leave\/withdrawal will affect their F-1 status.<\/li>\n<li>Student should contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/student-affairs\/student-affairs-staff\/donna-sevigny-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Director of Student Support<\/a> to discuss their plans and how the leave\/withdrawal will affect their Bates enrollment.<\/li>\n<li>Student completes and submits the appropriate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/student-affairs\/student-support-and-advising\/leaves-of-absence-withdrawals-dismissals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Withdrawal\/ Leave of Absence\/ or Medical Leave Form.\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Immigration Implications<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The student\u2019s SEVIS record is closed for <em>Authorized Early Withdrawal<\/em>. This action is not punitive and will not prevent the student from returning to Bates following their approved return from leave of absence request.<\/li>\n<li>If the student is in the U.S., they have 15 days to depart the U.S. from the day the SEVIS record is closed.<\/li>\n<li>If it has been more than 5 months since your SEVIS record was closed, a new SEVIS record will be created for you when you are re-enrolled at Bates. You will need to pay the <a href=\"https:\/\/studyinthestates.dhs.gov\/students\/prepare\/paying-the-i-901-sevis-fee\">SEVIS fee<\/a> again.<\/li>\n<li>Any time you had accrued towards the one academic year enrollment requirement to be eligible for OPT or CPT work authorizations will be lost. When you re-enter the U.S. with a new Initial Attendance SEVIS Record (I-20), you must be enrolled for one academic year (2 consecutive semesters) before becoming eligible for Optional Practical Training (OPT) or Curricular Practical Training (CPT).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Returning from a Voluntary Leave of Absence<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you decide to return to Bates College, you must take the following steps in advance of your return. It is best to complete these steps at least 8 weeks before the semester begins, particularly if you need to obtain a new F-1 visa*.<\/p>\n<p>*If your F-1 visa is still valid at the time of your return to Bates, you do not need to obtain a new one.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Student should contact the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/student-affairs\/student-affairs-staff\/donna-sevigny-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Director of Student Support <\/a>with any questions about readmission to the college, and see the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/student-affairs\/student-support-and-advising\/leaves-of-absence-withdrawals-dismissals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Returning from Leave<\/a> page for more information. You must be formally readmitted to the college before International Student Programs &amp; Services can issue you a new I-20.<\/li>\n<li>Your new I-20 will be signed electronically and sent to you via email. Please note you will have a new SEVIS ID number.<\/li>\n<li>Print the new I-20 and sign it on page one.<\/li>\n<li>You will need to pay the <a href=\"https:\/\/studyinthestates.dhs.gov\/students\/prepare\/paying-the-i-901-sevis-fee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEVIS fee<\/a> with your new SEVIS number.<\/li>\n<li>If your F-1 visa has expired, you will need to obtain a new visa before returning to the U.S.<\/li>\n<li>Return to the U.S. in F-1 status. You may enter the U.S. up to 30 days before the start-date on your new I-20.<\/li>\n<li>F-1 students will be eligible for Curricular Practical Training (CPT) and Optional Practical Training (OPT) after two semesters of studying in the U.S. with an active F-1 record.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you are taking a leave or are withdrawing from the college&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":924,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"class_list":["post-508","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","with-sidebar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/924"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11889,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/508\/revisions\/11889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/global-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}