The International Student Forums feature an immigration section moderated by Bobby Chung, a US immigration lawyer. Here's a recent post and Bobby's answer, which focuses on the requirement of "nonimmigrant intent" for a student visa:

Q: I plan on entering the US to study on a M or F Visa for students, but i do plan on living with my boyfriend (US citizen) . Is that a reason for a denial for the immigration officer?

A: A key consideration in deciding to issue an F-1 student visa is whether the applicant has proven nonmmigrant intent. If the applicant informs the Consular Officer that she has a boyfriend in the U.S. and she will live with him, some officers may worry that the applicant may wish to marry her boyfriend and not return to her home country after completing her studies, and thus deny the visa application for this reason.

Click here to read the rest of the answer.

Fire Displaces, Motivates Missouri International Students

A recent fire in a Columbia Missouri apartment complex left 20 people homeless and without any of their personal belongings. The fire was unintentionally started by an international student, and many of the victims were international students. The Missouri International Student Council decided to get involved and help everyone left homeless by the fire.

"We're not expecting to raise a great amount of money, but we do realize that a little bit of money would be helpful to students who incurred loss in this recent fire," said Thitinun Boonsang, Missouri International Students Council. The Council has held several fundraisers already, and has set up a website for donations from anyone that would like to help.

To read the rest of the story, please visit KOMU.com

If you would like to make a contribution to help the fire victims, click here.

Did you know that in Europe, there are more native German speakers than native English, French, Italian or Spanish speakers? In fact, worldwide, 120 million people speak the German language. German is the first language of the populations of Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, and is spoken in northern Italy, eastern France and parts of Belgium.

To find the right German course, The Language Course Finder offers you the opportunity to search for language courses according to your personal criteria. Moreover important details needed for a language holiday or study abroad program are also readily available, such as comprehensive information about language certificates, country and travel facts.

This month we are featuring a number of international communication links to help you keep in touch with people around the world:

• USA Calling Card
• UK Calling Card
• World Traveler/ Study Abroad Calling Card
• Calling Card Search Engine
• Calling Card Blog
• International Calling Card Video Guide