Processing Time

• ISSS only processes on business days.
  • Business days are Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm, when the university is open. 
  • Business days do not include weekends (Saturday and Sunday) or university holidays.
  • ISSS processing time does not include time necessary for obtaining university department approval and employer documentation. 
• Standard ISSS processing time is 15 business days.
  • Students: ISSS counts 15 business days starting from the date the request is submitted to ISSSin the ISSS Portal.
    • You will know you have successfully submitted a request for review to ISSS when the status of your request shows as "PENDING OFFICE APPROVAL" in the ISSS Portal. You will also receive an email on your Texas A&M email confirming the request has been submitted.
      • If you didn't receive the email and didn't see "pending office approved" in the ISSS portal, it means you have NOT finished submitting the request yet. Please make sure you complete all the e-forms in the request.
    • If your request shows as "ROUTED TO THIRD PARTY" in the ISSS Portal, this means your request has not yet been submitted to ISSS for review. This status means your academic department still needs to take action on your request. Your request will not be sent to ISSS for processing, AND the 15-business day processing window does not start UNTIL your academic department submits its recommendation. 
  • Scholars:
    • After emailing j1scholars@tamu.edu with your complete request, you will receive an email within 3 business days that confirms a case has been created in the ISSS Portal for processing. 
    • Within 15 business days of the case being created you will receive an email stating that the case has been processed or what additional information is needed. 
      • If your case is incomplete, ISSS will add additional information to the case within 3 business days after it is received to j1scholars@tamu.edu. Within 10 business days after receiving the additional information, you will receive another email update on your case status. 

ISSS cannot and does not expedite requests.

Why ISSS does not expedite requests:

• ISSS has a LOT to process, and each staff member is serving approximately 1,000 individuals.
  • We process over 15,000 requests per year and receive approximately 100 new requests every day during busy periods. 
  • We process requests for approximately 10,000 people annually, which includes incoming and current international students, scholars, and their dependents as well as former international students and their dependents who are still in the U.S. with practical training authorization. 
• Every request deserves thorough review and attention to protect your immigration status.
  • ISSS staff must review all requests for compliance with university, state, and federal laws.
  • It would be a disservice to YOU if we did not do a thorough review of your request.
• It is most equitable when ISSS processes requests in the order they were received.
  • Even expediting one request strains ISSS resources and ultimately causes inequitable delays for others.
• To further protect your immigration status, ISSS proactively reviews all submitted requests to identify potential case urgency. 
  • ISSS considers a request to be urgent if the student/scholar faces imminent risk of violating their immigration status. 

ISSS uses electronic signatures on most I-20 and DS-2019 requests for students, scholars, and student interns. 

Front Counter Pick-Up 

Regular or Express Mailing

• Regular mail will not cost extra, but the mail also cannot be tracked once it leaves the ISSS office. It may take at least 2 weeks for you to receive your documents via this mailing option. ISSS will mail the documents to the address you provided in your mailing questionnaire.
• Express mail orders can be purchased through eShipGlobal (Do NOT order through the FedEx, UPS, or DHL websites directly). You can choose different shipping speeds and shipping companies through eShipGlobal – these options will also have different prices that you must pay.
  • Visit https://study.eshipglobal.com/  (do not visit the FedEx, UPS, or DHL websites directly) to create a user name and password and to set up an account. To request shipment, you will need your Texas A&M UIN, mailing address, e-mail address, phone number, and credit card information. If you have questions about how to use this service, review the Help section of the eShipGlobal website or e-mail support@eshipglobal.com.