Posted by: sm5275 November 27, 2017
TPS to F1 - OPT Expired
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Thank you, everyone, for your responses.

I talked to my lawyer and a PDSO from my previous college, and here's what they said.

1. Change of Status(COS) to F-1 from TPS is possible as per the rule of TPS.
2. The college you're applying to must agree on issuing a COS I-20. In my case, the grad school declined to offer one. Most of the time, they'll issue an initial I-20 and not COS I-20.
3. Some colleges don't want to deal with COS. The PDSO said, sometimes colleges are lazy, narrow-minded or they have way too many students and just don't care.
4. COS is straight forward and takes 3-5 months.
5. There is a chance that COS may get declined; similar risk as returning to Nepal with initial I20 and re-applying for a new visa.
6. The PDSO also said if the TPS expires, we'd still be able to stay in U.S. while the COS is pending.

Hope this helps everyone with similar situations.
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