New USCIS guidelines realeased on December 2023 addressing non immigrant student classications (F and M) explains that F and M students must have a foreign residence that they have no intention of abandoning, but that the students may be the beneficiary of a permanent labor certification application or immigrant visa petition and may still be able to demonstrate their intention to depart after a temporary period of stay.
What does that mean?
The student visa (F or M) is a nonimmigrant visa, requiring the intent to depart the U.S. and return home. An immigrant visa petition, on the other hand, is the basis for the legal permanent residence in the U.S.
The applicant of a student visa must demonstrate residency abroad as well as ties to his/ her country in order to prove their intent to return home after their studies. The guidelines enforce the need to demonstrate a foreign residence. However, and very importantly the current updated provides that an applicant will still be eligible to an F or M visa, even though he/she is the beneficiary of a family or employment-based immigrant visa petition.
