If you want to take an English course in the USA, you might need to apply for a student visa, or you might be able to enter the country with a tourist visa only. This will depend on your nationality, as well as the type and length of the course you choose.
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Which courses?
Most general courses of 15 to 20 lessons per week fall under this category, as long as the lesson length is not over 52 minutes. This information can be found on the course page. The course must not last more than 12 weeks as this is the maximum length of time that you are allowed to stay in the country as a tourist.
Which Nationalities?
Students from the Visa Waiver Program can enter the country as a tourist. The Visa Waiver Program (VWP) enables nationals of certain countries to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for stays of 90 days or less without obtaining a visa.
The 27 countries participating in the VWP are:
| Andorra |
Iceland |
Norway |
| Australia |
Ireland |
Portugal |
| Austria |
Italy |
San Marino |
| Belgium |
Japan |
Singapore |
| Brunei |
Liechtenstein |
Slovenia |
| Denmark |
Luxembourg |
Spain |
| Finland |
Monaco |
Sweden |
| France |
the Netherlands |
Switzerland |
| Germany |
New Zealand |
United Kingdom |
Please note: All VWP travelers, regardless of age or type of passport used, must present individual machine-readable passports.
For more information on the VWP please click here >
Students from all other countries will be required to have a visa (tourist or student visa), regardless of the length of their stay.
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All Intensive Courses or courses over 12 weeks fall into this category.
All students must apply for a student visa, regardless of their nationality or the length of their stay.
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In order to apply for an F-1 student visa, the school will have to issue an I-20 form and send it to you so that you can present it at the embassy.
In order to process the I-20, the school requires the following information, so we will need you to send this to us after you have completed your online or phone booking:
- Home address
- Nationality
- Citizenship
- Copy of passport
- Bank statement to prove you have enough funds to cover your stay
When a student requires a visa, we always recommend booking the course at least 8 weeks minimum before the course start date.
Please note: You may be legally authorized to work in the United States while on an F-1 student visa.
For more information on student visas please click here >
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