All of us warmly welcome you to Brown University, an international community of students and faculty from over one hundred countries.

This website provides instructions on the documentation required for entering the United States as an international student. If you do not hold a U.S. passport or a Green Card, you must obtain a student visa. We recommend that you attend to this immediately if you intend to matriculate. If you do not intend to matriculate, please notify our office. To obtain an I-20:

1. Please commit to Brown online through the Brown Applicant Portal.

2. Activate your Brown account. If you’ve already replied to our office of admission, you should have received an account activation email.

3. Obtain and validate your Brown email address (instructions will be included once you activate your account). This is required for the Form I-20 “Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status,” which is the document we will provide to you so that you may apply for a student visa. The I-20 is a government form prepared on your behalf by the University.

4. Once you have your Brown email address, we will send you an invitation to log into the OISSS Gateway Portal, where you may confirm information and upload required documents so that we may issue your I-20. Please allow up to 72 hours after you have validated your Brown email address for the automated email invitation.

5. Prepare the required documents (detailed below). We are required by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to review passport and financial documentation so that we may issue you the immigration document.

6. Log into the OISSS Gateway Portal. You will be prompted to enter your Brown account username and password, which is the information you will have received after you have activated your Brown account. You will be taken to Section 1, the Welcome Page of the OISSS Gateway Portal. Select each of the sections on the menu bar near the top of the page to answer questions or confirm information as directed.

7. Select the next section. Section 2 is the Intake Questionnaire/F-1 SEVIS Transfer In section. Please note that “transfer” in this case refers to the process of electronically transferring a current SEVIS record from one institution to another, and not to transferring from one university to another. If you do not have an active I-20 at another institution, please answer “No” and proceed to the next section.

If you have an active I-20, please answer “Yes”, enter your immigration status (most students are F-1 students; some may hold another visa) and complete the transfer questions.

Please select “Save” at the bottom right corner of the page and proceed to the next section.

8. Section 3 is the Personal and Program section. Review the information and verify that it is correct. If any information is incorrect, contact international-adm@brown.edu. Please note that the country indicated in the Country of Citizenship field should refer to the country which issued the passport you will be using for your visa application and for your entry into the United States. If you have more than one passport, always indicate the country which issued the passport you will use for travel.

Please upload a scan or picture of the biographical page of your passport and be sure that the whole page appears.  

If you already have an F-1 visa, please upload a picture of it, whether or not it has expired. If it has expired, you may also upload a picture of the new one when you receive it. For those acquiring a visa for the first time: please remember to add a picture of your visa once you have acquired it.

Once Brown determines your Brown campus address, we will add it to the U.S. address field. Do not enter or submit any other U.S. address. The foreign address must be your address; it must not be a third party address.

Please select “Save” at the bottom right corner, and proceed to the next section.

9. Section 4 is the Financial Details section. According to government regulations, you must prove that you have available funds for the first year of study. The funding amount for the 2024-2025 academic year at Brown is $97,756; the total is $99,778 for those enrolling in the Brown|RISD Dual Degree program.

In this section, please upload the documentation described below. You may upload all the information under financial documentation. If a third party, such as a parent or relative, is funding your education and your name is not on the bank document, please include a signed Financial Sponsorship Declaration.

Upload a copy of your offer of admission. 

Please select “Save” at the bottom right corner, and proceed to the next section.

10. Section 5: If you have completed all the steps, click the Complete button. You’re done!

If there are any omissions or questions, we will contact you. If we have all the required information, we will issue your I-20 within 10 business days in most cases. Once we have reviewed your information and processed your I-20, we will notify you that it is ready to be downloaded so that you may make your embassy appointment. You will receive additional instructions via email on paying the government’s SEVIS fee and on preparing for the visit to your local embassy or consulate to obtain your F-1 visa stamp.

For students receiving financial aid from Brown University: please note that the SEVIS fee, which is currently $350.00, will be paid directly by Brown. A copy of the receipt of payment will be provided to you. Please do not pay the fee yourself, as Brown will not reimburse you.