2025 Winter Break Travel Information | International Student and Scholar Services

Special word: Our title is altering! OISSS is now formally International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS). Please search for our new title to be mirrored in our messages and methods within the coming weeks.

Dear International Community Members:

As the winter vacation season nears, International Student and Scholar Services (ISSS) is writing to offer reminders and steering about winter break journey, in addition to details about campus sources obtainable through the vacation season. In addition to reviewing the data under, we encourage you to contact ISSS along with your particular questions.

ISSS Information

Please think about protecting this electronic mail (and any updates) for future reference. We additionally encourage you to proceed to watch your Brown electronic mail account throughout any vacation breaks, in case we have to inform the neighborhood of any pressing travel-related developments. Also, examine our web site at recurrently for any immigration-related information and bulletins.

Preparing for Travel

For anybody planning to journey internationally, cautious preparation earlier than every journey is crucial. Please consult with the next guides that now we have ready that will help you:

• Documents required for re-entry: Our Travel Resource guides for International Students and International Scholars checklist the paperwork required for profitable re-entry into the U.S., in addition to further info and sources concerning the U.S. arrival course of. Take time now to assessment the re-entry necessities. In specific, affirm that you’ve got a legitimate passport, entry visa, and (for F-1 and J-1 visa holders) a Form I-20 or DS-2019 with an up to date journey signature.

• Travel signatures: For F-1 / J-1 college students and students, consult with our information on Getting a Travel Signature. IMPORTANT NOTE: You don’t have to have a legitimate journey signature to go away the U.S.; you solely want it by the point you come. ISSS is ready to course of up to date I-20 or DS-2019 kinds with journey validation and ship these to you electronically.

• Lost / stolen paperwork: While we hope that winter journey shall be problem-free, in case your journey paperwork are misplaced or stolen whereas exterior the U.S., consult with our Lost or Stolen Travel Documents information. Before touring, save photocopies of your key paperwork (passport, I-20 / DS-2019, visa) in a safe and accessible location as these copies might assist to expedite substitute of any lacking or stolen paperwork.

• Emergency contact checklist: Create your personal Emergency Contact card (and protecting each an digital and arduous copy) that lists your emergency contacts, in addition to University contacts that embody the Administrator on Call for college students (AOC) and Brown’s Department of Public Safety (DPS). Their numbers are additionally listed on the again of your Brown ID card. These contacts will coordinate outreach to ISSS or different employees in pressing conditions. 

• Share your itinerary: Let household and mates find out about your journey plans and journey itinerary, and examine in with them recurrently in order that they know you might be protected.

Travel Safety

Many college students and students might have issues about protected journey and the sorts of dangers that will impression their potential to journey. Review our Assessing Travel Safety information, which can enable you to make knowledgeable journey choices. While this information doesn’t present authorized recommendation, it displays totally different issues that require additional dialogue along with your ISSS advisor, in the event that they apply to you. In specific: 

• A restricted set of nations are at the moment topic to a journey ban proscribing entry into the U.S. Students and students from these nations, in addition to different nations which have been recognized as “countries of particular concern,” ought to discuss to their ISSS advisor earlier than making journey preparations

• Students and students whose visas are expired shouldn’t journey over winter break if they don’t already have confirmed visa appointments. Due to enhanced visa scrutiny and restricted consular staffing through the vacation season, there might not be sufficient time for a visa appointment to be scheduled and a visa to be issued earlier than the beginning of the spring semester. Even these with visa appointments must be conscious that visa approval and issuance timelines could also be prolonged. Read our Renewing Your Visa information and discuss to your ISSS advisor.

• Students or students with interactions with U.S. regulation enforcement might face heightened journey threat. Read our Travel information and make contact with ISSS for extra info.

• Students or students who’ve issues about their on-line social media exercise can also want to discuss to ISSS.

• H-1B staff who’re within the course of of fixing to, or extending, their H-1B standing shouldn’t journey exterior the U.S. with out first chatting with ISSS.

Staying within the U.S.? Local and Domestic Travel Requirements

Students and students who select to stay within the U.S. ought to nonetheless assessment necessities and proposals for U.S. Local and Domestic Travel, together with journey to Puerto Rico. In specific, college students and students should carry their Form I-94 always whereas within the U.S., as USCIS laws require non-US residents to have the ability to current proof of authorized standing any time they’re within the U.S.

Going on Brown-related Travel?

If you might be leaving campus on Brown-related journey (e.g., analysis journey, winter programs exterior the U.S., convention attendance, and so forth.), you might be required to register your journey with Brown’s Office of Global Travel Operations, Risk & Resilience. For extra info, go to Brown Travel and go to TravelSafe to register your journey. The registration requirement applies to anybody touring on Brown-related enterprise, no matter immigration standing (together with college students collaborating within the TravelPilot program). By registering your journey, additionally, you will have entry to totally different sources as described on the Brown Travel web site.

Campus Resources During Winter Break

Look for Forthcoming Announcements about Campus Events: International college students staying within the Providence space over winter break ought to search for bulletins within the close to future from the Global Brown Center and different items about winter campus occasions and sources.

Winter Break Student Housing. International college students who reside in campus housing can apply for housing over the winter break. During the break, residence halls shut at 12pm midday on Sunday, December 21, 2025, and reopen on Saturday, January 17, 2026. Students who want winter break housing ought to go to the Winter Break Housing web page to discover ways to apply. The deadline is predicted to be in early December.

ISSS Winter Break Operations. ISSS’s workplace will shut for winter break from Tuesday, December 23, 2025 and reopen on Tuesday, January 6, 2026. However, you should still ship inquiries to oisss@brown.edu. Non-emergency questions will solely obtain responses after we return on January 6. 

F-1 and J-1 college students and students: If you might have forgotten to acquire a journey signature earlier than leaving the U.S., learn the directions on our Getting a Travel Signature web page. Students can submit a journey signature request on-line by way of the OISSS Gateway Portal. ISSS is ready to course of and ship I-20s and DS-2019s with up to date journey signatures electronically for downloading and printing.

Police, Fire, or Medical Emergency Only. If you might be remaining in Providence through the winter break, you’ll be able to contact the Department of Public Safety’s emergency response quantity at (401) 863-4111, or dial 9-1-1.

With finest needs for a protected and restful break,

International Student and Scholar Services