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ISO Student News: 4/1/2021

 

Table of Contents

  1. Electronic ‘New Student Intake Forms’ (NSIF) for Incoming/Returning Students (more)
  2. ALERT: Employment & Tax Scams (more)
  3. UCC Sponsored Drop-ins in Support of AAPI Students (more)
  4. Address and Employment Reporting Reminders (more)
  5. 2020 Taxes: Filing Deadline Approaching, Next Webinars 4/7 & 4/12 (more)
  6. Book Launch: Routledge Handbook of Japanese Cinema (more)
  7. Mindfulness University Project: Upcoming Workshop (more)

 

Electronic ‘New Student Intake Forms’ (NSIF) for Incoming/Returning Students

Each spring, ISO prepares to welcome our greatest numbers of new and returning international students, during the upcoming summer and fall terms. As a result of COVID-19, we are preparing for even greater numbers than usual, as we hope to welcome both students who enrolled remotely from abroad during 2020 and newly admitted students for 2021. We anticipate these requests for an I-20 and DS-2019 will include international students who have not been able travel to Rochester in the past year, those who are returning from a break in studies at UR, as well as those who are admitted to begin a new academic program at UR.

ISO has recently launched a new electronic tool via our URcompass client portal for this purpose! The New Student Intake Forms (NSIF) are used to gather information from both academic departments and international students to review their eligibility and need for UR immigration sponsorship. If you will need a new F-1 or J-1 document from ISO, this process will begin with your academic program or admitting office, and you will receive detailed communications along the way when you are able to submit your information securely online (using your NetID). Once the form is initiated by your UR Department, you will be notified to complete the NSIF Student Section, followed by ISO’s review and document processing. We cannot grant you access to the form until your academic and UR funding information is submitted by the school first.

If you anticipate needing to submit the NSIF for 2021-2022, you can begin to prepare the relevant information and document scans you’ll need well in advance.  We have plenty of information on our website currently, and we will be developing additional resources in the weeks to come. The NSIF Student Section asks you to provide relevant details about yourself and your US immigration situation. You will need to select the appropriate SEVIS Category to process your records correctly, including options for ‘Return from Absence’ (appropriate for delayed arrivals due to COVID-19) and ‘Change of Education Level’ (appropriate for current students who will begin a new program of study at UR). Please review ISO’s reference materials, including targeted guidance regarding your Biographical Details, Financial Support Documentation, and Dependent Information. Some forms will require a file upload for supporting documentation (such as your passport or required funding information), which must be limited to files of 30MB each.

Please reference the linked materials and information to prepare for the electronic NSIF process in advance. Case-specific inquiries can be directed to admitquestions@iso.rochester.edu. Otherwise, we appreciate your patience, cooperation, and support as we navigate this new system together!

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ALERT: Employment & Tax Scams

Employment Scams: It has come to the attention of ISO that there has been an increase in scams of fraudulent employers and fake employment offers. If you are contacted by unknown individuals, please USE CAUTION when addressing their requests for personal information, money, or anything else. Some ways to identify these potential scammers are as follows:

  • Does the company have a legitimate company website and how professional does it look?
  • Check the web address and make sure it seems legitimate.
  • Check for a physical address associated with the company.
  • Is the email address coming from a company email address? Usually, free accounts like Gmail can be a red flag for fraudulent schemes.
  • Does the posting include spelling and grammatical errors?
  • If something feels “too good to be true,” it may be a scam.
  • Never cash a check for, or give money to, an employer.
  • It is usually suspicious if you are being hired on your resume alone, without an interview.

Tax Scams: ISO has also been informed about ongoing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impersonation scams that appear to target students with “.edu” email addresses. Please keep in mind that the IRS and other government agencies do not call or send emails. If the IRS or other government agencies need to contact you, they will do so through the mail with official documentation. Also, legitimate government agencies will NEVER demand immediate action over the telephone or deny you the option of consulting ISO, an attorney, or other source of support.

UR’s Department of Public Safety has prepared a document for DPS Guidance on Scams & Fraud to assist in understanding and avoiding these schemes and others. ISO has also posted a Spotlight Content video on scam prevention to our website, as part of our TIPS On-Demand series.

Please contact Public Safety if you ever encounter a potential scam at +1 585-275-3333 for further guidance.

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UCC Sponsored Drop-ins in Support of AAPI Students

UCC offers themed drop-in groups throughout the academic year and during breaks for students to connect with peers. These groups differ from their regular group offerings since they are not therapy groups and are open for all active UCC students to attend. Due to the recent racial and violent attacks targeting the AAPI community, UCC is offering a drop-in session every Wednesday at 4 pm for discussion about the recent violence, and for support of the AAPI community. Take a look at the UCC flyer for more details about these Zoom sessions.

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Address and Employment Reporting Reminders 

As we get further into the spring semester, we want to remind you of the following reporting requirements:

* Changes of residential address must be reported within 10 days. International students are required to notify the ISO promptly when their address has changed. You can report this information at any time using the appropriate online registration tool for your UR division. Students pursuing post-completion employment, please use the appropriate reporting tool online.  If you are currently living outside the US, please do NOT change your US address for now; it should remain the last place you lived while in the country.

* All F-1 and J-1 students must maintain full-time registration each term. If you will need to take a reduced course load, please speak to an ISO student advisor before you drop below full-time enrollment.

* Alternate work arrangements should be documented. If you are currently authorized for F-1 Practical Training (CPT or OPT), please review your I-20 and/or the SEVP Portal for continued accuracy. If you suspect changes should be made or have questions, please contact ISO. For students on OPT or J-1 Academic Training (AT), updates can be submitted to ISO using the appropriate reporting tool online.

* Keep your immigration & other records up-to-date. If you anticipate changes to your immigration record, please check our Forms & Links page for access to guidance, forms, and relevant deadlines. ISO will continue to accept, and process immigration requests and recommendations as needed!

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2020 Taxes: Filing Deadline Approaching, Next Webinars 4/7 & 4/12

On March 29, 2021, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that individuals have until May 17, 2021 to meet certain deadlines that would normally fall on April 15, such as filing certain claims for refund. This follows a previous announcement on March 17th stating that the federal income tax filing deadline was extended for individuals. This extension does not alter the April 15, 2021 deadline for estimated tax payments, which are still due on April 15th.

Even with the new federal deadline applying to many cases, the IRS has urged taxpayers to consider filing as soon as possible.

Extensions: If you need additional time to prepare and file your tax forms beyond the deadline, you can file Form 4868 to request an extension to October 15. This extension does NOT apply to any tax payments that may be due. Therefore, any tax payment due to IRS may be subject to interest charges and penalties.  Requests to extend state tax filings may not be satisfied with the federal extension; please check with the respective state tax authority for extension requirements as these may need to be handled separately. Requesting an extension does NOT mean you have filed a tax return, since an extension only provides you with additional time to send any required tax return forms to the US government. 

Please note that state filing and payment deadlines vary in general and are not always the same as the federal filing deadline. 

If you have questions about your tax filing obligations, please consider attending one of ISO’s upcoming tax webinars, which are designed to address student concerns. These webinars are hosted by a licensed tax preparer who has expertise in nonresident and resident tax filing. The final two webinars in this series will be hosted at the days and times below:

Spring 2021 Nonimmigrant Tax Webinars:

Wednesday, April 7th | 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Eastern

Monday, April 12th | 6:00pm - 7:30pm Eastern

Zoom Link (same for all webinars):
 https://rochester.zoom.us/j/92366954506

Please see the 2020 Tax Filing section of our website for more details and resources to assist with completing your tax reporting requirements.

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Book Launch: Routledge Handbook of Japanese Cinema

Celebrate the publication of the book, co-edited and featuring contributions by Joanne Bernardi, Professor of Japanese (MLC) and Film and Media Studies, and Shota T. Ogawa (VCS ’14), Assistant Professor, Nagoya University, Japan. This event will be taking place on Friday, April 9 at 12:00pm to 1:30pm.  This is a virtual event. For more details and to register, visit the UR Event Calendar.

A useful resource for students and scholars of Japanese studies, film studies, and cultural studies more broadly, the volume brings together the work of twenty-one authors with diverse backgrounds, including three University of Rochester alumni, to illuminate the hybridity of approaches that define the field. Providing a timely and expansive overview of Japanese cinema today, it is the first anthology of Japanese cinema scholarship to span the temporal framework of 200 years, from the vibrant magic lantern culture of the nineteenth century to the formation of the film industry in the twentieth century, culminating in cinema’s migration to gaming, surveillance video, and other new media platforms of the twenty-first century.

Featured presentations in this event will include short presentations by the co-editors and three contributors:

  • Joanne Bernardi, Professor, Department of Modern Languages and Cultures
  • Shota Ogawa, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Letters, Nagoya University (’14 VCS)
  • Joel Anderson, Visiting Assistant Professor, SUNY Purchase (’20 VCS)
  • Daniel Johnson, Faculty Fellow, NYU Arts & Sciences (’05 FMS)
  • Kyoko Omori, Associate Professor, Hamilton College

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Mindfulness University Project: Upcoming Workshop

Did you know that a daily mindfulness practice can help to decrease perceived stress, improve quality of sleep, self-compassion, mood, and academic performance in both college and graduate students? Learn the fundamentals of mindfulness meditation during the next Koru mindfulness four-week workshop. In this 4-week workshop series, participants will learn about and practice two new meditation techniques weekly and bring more mindfulness and gratitude into their lives. Four sessions are beginning early April. Registration is required. Open to all undergraduate and graduate students.

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Prepared by: ISO Student Services