Initial Student FAQ

The ISSO has a dedicated page to answer questions related to submitting financial documents for I-20 issuance. Click Here to access our Financial Certificate Form.

Click Here to learn about our office’s transfer in page and procedures. 

Generally no, you can not upload the award letter. Instead, please reach out to your department to have them enter your contract in eGPS, then make sure you accept your contract, and any tuition support, in Banner. Once that step is completed, your funds should all show up on the FCF within 24 hours of being uploaded by the department and accepted by you. We do not need to see additional documentations for those funds.

There is one exception to the rule:

• Students receiving awards from professors using project grant funding or funds that can only be entered/logged by the department in the SEA Award system (e.g. a faculty member is using his/her startup funds to help fund the student) must also submit a written statement listing the department’s commitment and the amount of funds.
  • What to upload with your Financial Certificate form in this situation:
    • The Student Educational Award Submission Confirmation. This is an automated email the department will receive after they have submitted the funds to Financial Aid/SEA system. You may submit a pdf copy of the email with the Financial Certificate From.
    • A statement from the department listing the department’s commitment and the amount of funds. Must be signed and on letterhead.

Our processing time is 5 business days from the day a student submits their Financial Certificate Form (FCF). Note that weekends and holidays are not considered business days. Your electronic I-20 will be uploaded to your ISSO Portal account when it is ready, and you will receive an automatic email informing you of this at your university-associated email address.

Generally, no. 

The U.S. Department of State will not honor such a letter if your program start date is more than 30 days away–they will simply ignore it. As such, the ISSO and other university staff will not write an emergency or expedited visa appointment support letter for anyone with more than 30 days before their program begins (as noted on the I-20). 

The only exception to this is if your program start date is less than 30 days away and you still have not secured a visa appointment. In that case, you can ask your academic advisor to write a letter stating why your timely presence is necessary to the functioning of the university and provide that to you (for example, if you are needed as a TA for a class, and your absence would harm the learning of the entire class). This letter can sometimes help a student with less than 30 days before their program begins request an expedited visa interview. The ISSO, which the Department of State must see as a neutral party mediating relations between the government and the university, cannot write that letter. 

We do not have a template for that letter, but it should explain why your absence harms UNC Charlotte as a whole, and not simply why you would be better off having your visa prioritized over the requests of other possibly equally qualified and worthy co-nationals and prospective students. 

Students receiving TA and/or GA contracts or other awards should be able to see those funds on the FCF automatically if the department has fully approved these awards in eGPS, the university’s award management software. If your academic department has not fully approved a given award or awards in eGPS, they will need to do so first before the amounts will appear automatically on the FCF. Please contact your academic department to inquire about the status of your awards in eGPS. The ISSO has only a read-only access to the FCF and cannot edit or populate award amounts directly there.

If you are unable to begin classes for the term in which you applied for admission, reach out to the admission office (gradcounselor@charlotte.edu for graduate students, and intl.admissions@charlotte.edu  for undergraduate students) to discuss your options, including a potential deferral.  Please note that the ISSO cannot make admission decisions; however, we will work on updating your SEVIS record and reissue you a new I-20 once you have been admitted for and submitted an approved FCF for your deferred term.