The ISO at MIT is an office all international students and is your primary resource for all questions and concerns you may have related to the visa process, maintaining your status while in the US, and your work opportunities in the US under your MIT sponsored visa.
The ISO designates a staff member as the official advisor for each program. For MIT-WHOI Joint Program students, this will vary depending upon your home MIT Department. Do note, your Advisor Point-of-Contact also supports other programs in a given Department or School. Please be patient when reaching out; your ISO point of contact will return a response to you within a few business days.
Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE; Course 1) Aurora Brule (abrule@mit.edu)
Mechanical Engineering (MEchE; Course 2) Christine Xiong (cxiong@mit.edu)
Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS; Course 6) Sylvia Hiestand (shiestan@mit.edu)
Biology (Course 7) Christine Xiong (cxiong@mit.edu)
Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS; Course 12) Christine Xiong (cxiong@mit.edu)
Aeronautics & Astronautics (AeroAstro; Course 16) Christine Xiong (cxiong@mit.edu)
International students are required to attend an ISO orientation session within 30 days of their arrival in the US as part of maintaining your F-1 visa compliance. You also will not be able to register for classes, or receive an ID Card without completion of this session. The ISO offers a number of these orientation sessions in the weeks before fall classes begin, which you may sign up for via the iMIT Portal.
If you are an international student and are already in the US do not leave the country; the ISO will process your visa paperwork transfer (from your current visa status to F-1 Student status) over the summer.
In order to participate in CPT, you must have two semesters as a full-time student in the US. International students matriculating this fall to MIT will be eligible to participate in an internship in Summer 2022 under their MIT F-1 visa.
The online iMIT Portal through which you applied for your I-20 allows the ISO to track the progress of your application and our advisor Point-of-Contact will work with you one-on-one should delays occur.
You are unable to enter the US and attend classes at MIT unless you are arriving on an F-1 student visa. You will not be allowed to attend classes on campus if you enter the US on any visa other than an F-1 with the intent to study at MIT.
The most important and up-to-date immigration information will be available on the International Students Office (ISO) website on the following pages:
ISO Homepage: http://iso.mit.edu
ISO Major Immigration Updates page: http://iso.mit.edu/immigration/imm_updates.shtml
ISO COVID-19 Updates page: http://iso.mit.edu/news/iso-updates-spring-2020
Processes to obtain your Visa: https://iso.mit.edu/getting-started/requesting-an-i-20-or-ds-2019/
International students beginning in Summer 2025 - you may begin the I-20 process immediately.
International students beginning in Fall 2025 - you may begin the I-20 process on/after April 15, 2025.
Students seeking a visa are unable to visit the consulate in their respective country any earlier than 120 days in advance of their expected arrival date.
If you are planning to leave the US during your time as an MIT student for course or leisure travel or for conference/research purposes, please ensure you carry the following information with you at all times:
Valid passport
Visa with a consulate stamp
Financial Support Documentation
For conference, research or other travel, have a letter indicating your student status and dates of your travel. (the MIT-WHOI Joint Program can supply this)
Onboarding Processes for the MIT-WHOI Joint Program
In addition to obtaining your I-20 and subsequently, your student visa, you will want to be thoughtful of the timeline to complete onboarding processes for the JP in conjunction with these US entry requirements. We've developed a helpful document to outline this general timeline with the help of current international students. You may find it here.
MIT's English Language Studies classes aim to meet the needs of MIT's diverse population: bilingual American students, newly-arrived immigrants, international students and visiting scholars who are in the US temporarily, as well as MIT faculty members and employees whose first language is not English. A major goal of the program is to foster facility and appropriateness in English language communication in a variety of academic and professional contexts.
The English Evaluation Test
In accordance with policy established by the MIT Committee on Graduate School Policy, newly admitted international graduate students whose language of instruction from primary school onwards was not English must take the English Evaluation Test (EET) as a prerequisite for registering. Visiting scholars, scientists, postdoctoral fellows and other MIT affiliates may take the EET to determine the appropriate subject to match their level of skill, but restrictions apply in regards to space availability.
For Fall 2025, the English Evaluation Test will be held on August 26th in-person at MIT from 9am - 12pm in 10-250. More information about the EET and who is required to take it, can be found here: https://cmsw.mit.edu/english-evaluation-test-eet/ and here: https://oge.mit.edu/graduate-admissions/applications/international-applicants/ . There is also a helpful video to watch in advance that answers commonly asked questions: https://cmsw.mit.edu/english-evaluation-test-eet/.
If visa delays cause you to miss this exam, there are three makeup dates:
Friday, Sept. 5 from 9am - 12pm (32-141)
Wednesday, Sept. 10 from 1pm - 4pm (3-333)
Monday, Sept. 15 from 1 - 4pm (Room TBD)
If you cannot make one of these September dates, you must take the exam when it's offered again in January.
The Writing Center offers several services to the MIT community during the academic year. Students and staff members can get free individual consultation about any writing difficulty, from questions about grammar to matters of style, including difficulties common to writers, such as overcoming writer's block, organizing papers, taking essay exams, revising one's work, or presenting scientific information. They may visit the Writing Center during any stage of the writing process: prewriting, writing a first draft, revising, or editing.
The Writing Center also offers instruction both to individuals and groups in methods of oral presentation (how to write a speech, how to use visual aids, how to conduct oneself when presenting scientific or nonscientific information). The Writing Center provides specialized help to those for whom English is a second language. For appointments sign-up online at mit.mywconline.com or visit the Center in E18 Room 233.
Textbooks for foreign speakers of English and guides to writing business English and technical English in the MIT Libraries' collection; also includes online guides to ESL materials and grammar.