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UNIVERSITY CORNER: STATE DEPARTMENT ADVISES ON NEW IMMIGRATION LAW'S IMPACT ON REINSTATEMENT OF STATUS
One of the harsher provisions in IRRAIRA 96, the new immigration law, is Section 222(g) which prevents individuals who previously overstayed a visa from processing a non-immigrant visa in any consulate but the person's home country consulate. A question that has arisen frequently in connection with Section 222(g) is whether the provision applies to students who fall out of status but later reinstate to student status from within the US. 
Until recently, the INS permitted out-of-status F-1 students (such as persons who drop out of their academic programs) to be reinstated to their current program and status by simply leaving the US and re-entering on a new I-20. As of December 23, 1996, this policy was ended and the INS now requires a student to go through the formal reinstatement process where the student submits Form I-539 and demonstrates to the INS that the violation of status resulted from circumstances beyond the student's control or that extreme hardship would result if the student is not reinstated. The student must also show that he or she intends to pursue full-time studies, has not engaged in unauthorized employment and is not otherwise deportable.
The INS has stated that persons who interrupted their studies before September 30, 1996 but who later reinstated status are not subject to Section 222(g). However, students who interrupted their studies after September 30, 1996 and did not resume them within the sixty day grace period are considered overstays and ARE subject to 222(g). 
In a January cable to consular posts, the State Department notes that there is no convenient or reliable method for determining at the time of a visa interview whether an alien who formerly held F status might have interrupted studies and been reinstated at some point in the past. The State Department has instructed consular officers not to undertake lengthy questioning of applicants to determine whether they might have ever interrupted F studies or benefited from reinstatement at some point in the past, unless in the course of normal visa processing the possibility of a previous interruption of studies/reinstatement of status becomes apparent through information otherwise routinely obtained (for example in the OF-156 Non-immigrant Visa Application or a routine interview revealing a lengthy F stay in the US far in excess of that normally required to complete the studies undertaken).
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