Regarding taking less credit (less than 9) it should be ok if you file petition, stating that

* you are done with your course works
* that you are working in your thesis or design
* there is not any course offered or to be taken 
*  you have some kind of assistantship

I took only 7 credit on Spring 07 and now taking another 7 credits this Fall 07. However, I did file petition both the times and I was told by the ISA officer that is all ok. And hopefully I will be taking just 1 credit for next 2 sem ( just my thesis).

Goodluck!

Thank you guys soo sooo much for your suggestions and advises. Really appreciate for your inputs and your thoughts. No wonder when one of us are trouble, we all stand together to help them out and I guess that's why it makes our community so special.

As for my current senario, I had talked to almost everyone in the college. I had talked to the Dean of Student Affairs, Dean of Multicultural affairs, Dean of Engineering, Vice Chancellor and even the Chancellor is aware of the situation.

They have placed me in 3 major violations (which I am not even sure about). I think those three violations are reduced course load, CPT paperworks and on-campus work.  The first two they admit it's their mistake and all they have to tell me is "sorry". For the third violation regarding my working hours, they beleive it's mine.

I told them that after the summer ended I had told my DSO that I am working 40 hrs for this company and few hours in the college. HE had told me that until the college doesn't have problem paying me overtime, I would be fine with it. I don;t know if he was trying to help me out or just being a lazy jerk to inform me about the rules and regulations. Unfortunately I do not have any proof or documents to support my point. Just a basic logic, I told them, why would a student so close to graduation would jeoperdize his own situtaion just for few extra dollars? And they don;t have answer to it. I was not working solely for money purpose, but I was trying to keep myself busy.

The old DSO could have told to several things that could have avoided this situation. He could have told me to  apply for financial hardship with which i might be able to work beyond 20 hrs/wk. Or atleast he could have warned me of the consequences and risks involved with it.

Now since I have lost my status. I can;t apply for CPT or OPT. Can;t transfer to different college. Can;t apply for reinstatement (since they place in work violation category). A 5 months deadline to live with. An unfinished degree on my way. Although they told me I can register for next semester, but then it's on my risk of suffering the 3 yrs ban (if i stay more than 5 months) or a 10 yr ban (if I stay more than 1 year)....

Knock Knock

Your case is almost similar to the two students who got deported from Cameron University , Oklahoma in Summer. They were made out of status . But they were given the new I-20 from the same university in case they want to come again. They went to Nepal . They paid new fees to SEVIS . They came back to US again with the same visa they had previously. At the port of Entry they were given new I-94 and again put back in SEVIS system .

I would advise you to go through the Student hand book of the college . They should have some forms of appeal dates for the students who have been charged as violation of college rules. Most of the time Vice president are in charge of this. The best way I recomend is to aplozise with the vice president and say him all your troubles and convince him/her that you would not violate the college rules again.

Sorry to hear your condition . May you be forgiven by the college authority

Hey dude,

It seems like u n me both r runnin into same sort of issue. my school also screwed me so badly that I am out of status. first, what did was applied for re-instatement(if u r out of status). do that ASAP. ani when when u r done filing your paperwork with the Feds tell your school that you need monetary compensation or else the info is gonna go out in public and you will drag the school in court. its really workin for me. email me if you need some inputs.

Hey dude,

It seems like u n me both r runnin into same sort of issue. my school also screwed me so badly that I am out of status. first, what i did was applied for re-instatement(if u r out of status). do that ASAP. ani when u r done filing your paperwork with the Feds tell your school that you need monetary compensation or else the info is gonna go out in public and you will drag the school in court. its really workin for me, my school is papying for me now. lastly, keep the records of everything if in case if you need later. email me if you need some inputs.

Hi KnockKnock Ji,

Same thing happened to me also. I was all set for graduation with MBA in this december. I was made out of status based on the fact that I worked for more than 20 hrs on-campus. They added my hrs worked on sunday to next week to make 24 hrs for that week. They never told the fact that hrs worked on sunday adds to the hrs on coming week. The university website also doen't have this information either.I knew that it was not my fault but still they don't have authority to reinstate the F1 status and we need to do something from our part.

There are two options:

Apply for reinstatement. Note if denied your visa will be cancelled and you need to go back to Nepal to reapply for the visa. If approved everything will be fine but will take more than 3 months and you need to maintain a full time student status till the approval. You will get OPT and CPT. But it seems risky in a sense that if visa is cancelled then the chances of getting from nepal again is in doubt.

Other option what I selected is to leave the country and reenter again with new I-20 and I-94. For this U can go th US/Mexico border and get it done easily. I went to El Paso and have it done in 10 minutes. Also visit this site (www.victorgarciainternational.com) and call Victor in his mobile. He is a very helpful guy and knows about this situation. He will pick you from the airport take you to the border, suggest what to do and then drop you back to the airport for just $40. He is there to help everyone any time you call him.

There is little risk of not getting to come back again.

Hope this helps a little  bit. Any questions regarding how to do it reply to this thread. I will be glad to share my experiences.

Losing status is not that serious as we think. It can happen easily. So don't make it too serious. Still life is to go on and nobody knows what happens tomorrow. Take it as opportunity and you will succeed in life. Always take it for granted that everything happens for your good. Don't lose hope. I was also a graduate student with 4.0 GPA till now. I had already applied for OPT which is cancelled now. Only 5 classes are left to complete by course requirements. Still I am happy now and will be graduating in time and will enroll in some other course for next one year. So cheers man.

Thanks