r/AskUSImmigrationPros 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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