Office of International Students and Scholars

COVID-19: International Student FAQs

Current OISS Operations

The Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS) is available remotely during our regular business hours (Monday-Friday, 8:30 am - 5:00 pm). While we will not be conducting any in-person meetings and appointments or accepting walk-in traffic at this time, we remain available for service requests and advising via email, phone, and Zoom. Please refer to our FAQ page for specific information about our current operations.

Welcome to USD!

Welcome to our international family! USD hosts international students and scholars from more than 70 countries around the world. We are delighted that you are joining this group of distinguished students and scholars, and we hope that your experiences here will prove intellectually challenging, culturally enriching, and personally enjoyable, whether you stay only for a few weeks, or several years. 

Important Regulatory Updates

July 30th, 2020:

Our FAQ page was updated in light of President Harris' announcement regarding the fall semester.

Created by: Luiza Ferraro Adas '21 (Clinical Mental Health Counseling) - International Student from Brazil

@usdoiss on Instagram

Meet our last Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador member, Gonçalo Sousa! Gonçalo is a senior in the Double Degree Program, majoring in Business Administration and International Business and minoring in Finance. He is from Portugal and some of his hobbies and interests are sports, mainly rowing, and watching the sunset (“rowing is my heart and if you combine that with a sunset, it makes my day”). Fun fact: “I am a Godfather”.
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Ambassador Team, Andrea Mozos! Andrea is from Spain and she is a senior majoring in International Business and minoring in Psychology. Her hobbies and interests are dancing, which is one of her biggest passions (“I love any kind of style but to be honest, reggaeton is my ride or die”), reading, surfing, and traveling to discover new places. Fun fact: “I am obsessed with chocolate”.
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador, Regina Palero Alemán! Regina is a senior majoring in Integrated Engineering, and she is from Mexico. Her hobbies and interests are photography, reading, and musicals! One of her favorite things to do is scuba diving or any activity that involves the ocean. Fun fact: “I am a dual citizen (Mexico and Spain), and my grandmother is from Japan!”
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador, Mohammed Alsinan! Mohammed is from Saudi Arabia and he is a senior majoring in Industrial and Systems Engineering. His hobbies and interests are music, philosophy, and Italian food (“so I could talk to you for hours about philosophy while eating pasta and listening to Frank Sinatra!”). Fun fact: “I am so impatient that I was born in only seven months”.
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador, Zenaida Gómez-Raggio! Zenaida is a senior majoring in Communication and English, and she is from Spain. Her hobbies and interests are cooking, watching TV shows, and traveling. Fun fact: “I used to watch The Lion King every day as a kid”.
Meet another one of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador, Bing (Vicky) Liu! Vicky is from China, she is a senior majoring in Accounting and Finance and minoring in Mathematics. Her hobbies and interests are cooking, shopping, traveling, and video auditing. Fun fact: “I have tried all kinds of chips from Trader Joe’s (my favorite grocery store!)”
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador, Marina Lemos. Marina is a senior at USD majoring in Marketing and she is from Brazil. Her hobbies and interests are traveling, surfing, and doing outdoors activities. Fun fact: “I love Italian food”.
Meet another member of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassadors, Majd Raaiq! Majd is a third generation Kenyan and Indian by ethnicity and a senior majoring in Architecture and minoring in Visual Arts. She loves to cook and bake even though it can be a hit or miss 😅, being outdoors and doing adventurous things, photography, doing anything artistic, and she is a huge animal lover. Fun fact: “I have never seen snow before”.
Meet one of our Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador Abdullah Almakrami! Abdul is a junior from Saudi Arabia, majoring in Electrical Engineering and minoring in Computer Science. Some of his hobbies and interests are playing sports such as soccer, boxing, and beach volleyball, doing road trips and outdoor adventures at least once a week, and learning history and cultures. Fun fact: “I started driving when I was 11!”
Meet our second Fall 2020 International Team Ambassador’s Co-Chair, Gabriela Escalona! Gaby is from Venezuela, a senior majoring in Marketing and minoring in Entrepreneurship. Her hobbies are traveling, going to the beach, spending time with friends and family, and reading. Fun fact: “I have moved 9 times to 5 different countries!”

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OISS attempts to provide the most recent, useful information to our students. However, we make no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of the information contained in or linked to here, the iTorero Portal, and in emails coming out of OISS. Information provided by OISS does not constitute and should not be considered legal advice or a legal opinion, and it may not necessarily reflect the most current legal developments. OISS likewise cannot guarantee the outcome of status-related benefit requests filed with US government agencies.  Students should seek the advice of counsel or a tax professional for additional guidance. OISS reminds students and scholars that failure to comply with F-1 and J-1 regulations is a violation of your status, which may result in serious consequences including the termination of your SEVIS record, your inability to re-enter the US, and the accrual of unlawful presence which could lead to your removal from the US. Direct all questions regarding your F-1 and J-1 status to OISS, internationaloffice@sandiego.edu