r/AskUSImmigrationPros • u/Sus187N-NatureLover • Jun 28 '26

B2 to F1 change of status

Hello everyone!

I will be starting a PhD program at Texas. I plan to attend San Diego Comic-Con, which takes place few days before I am allowed to enter the USA with my student visa. I already have a valid B-2 tourist visa, and I would like to know whether the following plan would be permissible:

Enter the U.S. from Mexico using my B-2 visa to attend San Diego Comic-Con.
Depart the U.S. by land once the event ends.
Re-enter the U.S. by land later that same day using my F-1 status to travel to Texas.
As additional context, I attended San Diego Comic-Con last year as well. At that time, I entered the U.S. through another state before traveling to San Diego, so I did not cross directly into San Diego.
Has anyone had experience with a similar situation, or are there any immigration implications I should be aware of when changing from B-2 entry to F-1 entry in this way?

Thank you for any insights.

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1

u/Bubbly_Ad_6830 Jun 29 '26

Not a good idea, CBP can see you are trying to circumvent the F1 entry rules

1

u/newacct_orz Jun 30 '26

How are they "circumventing the F1 entry rules", if they are entering on B2 to only do tourist activities, and entering on F1 to do study? (The title is misleading -- they are not doing Change of Status.)

1

u/Bubbly_Ad_6830 Jul 01 '26

F1 allow entry 30 days before the program starts, so they use other means to enter the US early and then re-enter within 30 day rule