your roadmap
The whole journey from Nepal to the US, end to end. This is the longest runway of any destination here — and the one place where a single conversation decides the outcome.
Eight stages across 12–18 months. The length is not bureaucracy for its own sake: testing, applications and funding decisions each have to complete before the next begins, and the visa interview sits at the very end of the chain.
Tests
English, plus SAT/ACT or GRE/GMAT only if your programmes require them. Many are now test-optional — check before booking.
Apply
Directly to each university, or via the Common App for undergraduates. Apply to several, especially to compare funding.
Admission and funding
For graduate applicants this is the step that decides affordability. Assistantships and waivers are awarded by departments, not central admissions.
Choose a school, receive the I-20
From an SEVP-certified school. Everything downstream — SEVIS, the visa, the border — is built on this document.
MoEST NOC
After admission and the I-20, before you remit any fees. Nepali banks will not move tuition without it.
SEVIS, DS-160, interview
Pay the SEVIS fee, file the DS-160 with five years of social-media identifiers, pay the MRV fee, set your profiles public, and attend at Maharajgunj.
Travel and the port of entry
CBP inspects your passport, visa and I-20 and admits you in F-1 status. Enter no earlier than 30 days before your course starts.
Check in and week one
Report to your DSO, complete SEVIS registration, check your I-94, then bank account, SIM and orientation.
Housing patterns in the US are fairly predictable, and split along the undergraduate/graduate line more than by city.
On-campus dorms
Common and convenient for first-year undergraduates. Apply early — allocation is often first-come.
Off-campus shared housing
More common for graduate students and after year one. Usually cheaper, and often found through the Nepali community.
Temporary first
Many students book short-term accommodation and find a shared rental after arriving and seeing the area.
Passport with the F-1 visa, your signed Form I-20, SEVIS and MRV receipts, admission and funding letters, financial documents, accommodation details, and your international-student office contact.
At the port of entry: CBP inspects your passport, visa and I-20, and admits you in F-1 status
Immediately after: check your electronic I-94 admission record — errors here cause problems later and are easiest to fix immediately
Then, without delay: report to your school's international student office and complete SEVIS check-in and registration
After that: a bank account, a SIM, and international-student orientation — which covers status rules, work authorisation and health services, and is genuinely worth attending rather than skipping. If you will work on campus, apply for a Social Security Number; it is employment-based, so you generally need the job offer first.
This section matters more in the US than anywhere else on this site, because your F-1 status is both easier to lose and harder to recover.
On-campus work: up to 20 hours per week in term, full-time in breaks, with no extra authorisation needed
Off-campus work: requires CPT or OPT authorisation — there is no exception to this
Maintaining status means full-time enrolment, no unauthorised work, and keeping your DSO informed of changes
Breaking F-1 status directly affects your later OPT eligibility — the post-study work window you came for depends on the record you build from week one.
Unauthorised work is the single most damaging mistake available to you here. A few weeks of cash-in-hand income can cost you the 36-month STEM window you came for — and there is no appeal process that restores it.