All new international students are required to attend their respective orientation programs and complete their Immigration Check-in at OISS as soon as possible after arrival in the United States. Make your travel plans accordingly.

Please note that failure to attend both the international orientation and an immigration check-in with OISS will result in a hold being placed on your student record and may affect your immigration status.

Orientation and Check-in Process for Fall 2025

All new international students starting their program or arriving in the U.S. for the first time in the Fall 2025 semester must complete the mandatory immigration check-in and attend their respective orientation program. Upon completing all four required steps, you will be in compliance and ready to begin your program at Rice University. Returning students arriving under a new immigration record must also complete the mandatory immigration check-in.

STEP 1: Pre-Arrival Orientation

OISS is very excited to announce the launch of Homebase, a platform where we can provide easy access to online courses that will educate you on important immigration processes.

At this time, we are launching two courses for incoming students:
1) F-1 Student Pre-Arrival & Immigration Compliance
2) New Student Visa Tracking

The F-1 Student Pre-Arrival & Immigration Compliance course is a mandatory part of your immigration check-in process. In addition to covering important information about your F-1 status and how to maintain it, it also provides valuable pre-arrival guidance to best prepare you for your arrival. Therefore, we recommend that you start the course at your earliest convenience.

The New Student Visa Tracking course consists of a simple online form, where you can keep Rice informed on where you are in your visa application process. We ask that you return to update this form as you progress on your journey to Rice.

We also look forward to launching some Community features during the summer. Stay tuned for more information!

A link to register for these courses is sent together with the I-20 (a separate email has been sent to students who received their I-20 before the courses were launched). If you need assistance with accessing Homebase, please contact oiss@rice.edu.

A Certificate of Completion for the F-1 Student Pre-Arrival & Immigration Compliance course must be uploaded to your OISS Portal account as part of your immigration check-in process.

STEP 2: Document Check-in

Upload copies of your immigration documents to your OISS Portal account.

1. Access your OISS Portal account at https://oissportal.rice.edu/. Your login credentials are the same as when you uploaded the items needed for your I-20/OISS admissions processing. You should not be creating a new account at this time.
2. Click on "STEP 2: Upload Supporting Documents"
3. Find the items titled "Post-Arrival E-Check-in"
4. Upload the required documents that are not yet marked as Complete. If you have already uploaded some documents, check for comments informing you of any remaining issues. Please allow 24-48 hours for the review process.
5. Click "Submit for Approval," which will change the Requirement Status for the Requirement Type from "Needs Submission" to "Needs Review." Otherwise, we will not be notified of your uploaded documents.

Required Post-Arrival E-Check-in documents include:

• E-Check-in Form: Complete the form at https://oiss.rice.edu/Echeck, and upload a copy of the email you receive with your responses.
• Passport pages: Upload a copy of your F-1/J-1 visa (unless you are a Canadian citizen). You only have to upload your passport bio page if you have received a new passport since submitting one for your I-20/admissions processing.
• I-94 record: You can access your I-94 at https://i94.cbp.dhs.gov/I94/#/home after entering the United States. Please note that we require the Most Recent I-94; we do not require your travel history.
• Signed I-20/DS-2019: This is the I-20 (F-1 visa holders) or DS-2019 (J-1 visa holders) you received from Rice University (unless your J-1 visa is externally sponsored, e.g., by Fulbright). Please make sure you have signed the first page before uploading the copy.
• Dependent documents: These are only required if you have F-2 or J-2 dependents (i.e., spouse and/or child) with you in the United States. Please do not upload duplicates of your own documents under this section. If you do not have dependents, we will close this section automatically when reviewing your other documents.

STEP 3: ESTHER Address Update

All students must update their address in the Local Address field in their ESTHER account with the local address where they reside, as well as add their U.S. phone number in the Personal Cell Phone field.

When updating your address, pay special attention to the proper address formatting requirements:
Line 1: The street number and name – do not enter the name of your apartment complex or college, or any other information on this line
Line 2: The apartment or room number – this line can be left blank if you live in a house
City, State and Zip Code must be entered correctly.

When updating your phone number, please enter the area code (i.e., the first 3 digits) separately from the remaining 7 digits. Do not include any dashes or other additional characters or numerals. The International Access Code and Phone Number section must be left blank. Please see the screenshot below for an example of a correctly entered phone number.

STEP 4: International Student Orientation

Information about orientation is coming soon!

Please also see our Onboarding webpage at https://oiss.rice.edu/onboarding.