These guides and checklists will help you travel inside and outside the US. We also offer resources to explore Glendale and Southern California. Stay informed about upcoming activities in our newsletter and follow @GCC_ISO on Instagram!  As always, please do not hesitate to contact us at gcciso@glendale.edu if you need assistance at any time.

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Travel Guidelines & Travel Do's & Don'ts Advisory

Invitation Letters (invite your friends and family to visit you)

Driving in the US

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Transportation options

Popular Attractions/Destinations

VisitCalifornia: Official Site

Travel Advisories:

Due to the current focus on illegal immigration, all students should take care to carry proof of your legal status or "legal registration" with you at all times. This means carrying a printed version of your I-94 card and your printed and signed I-20; students on OPT should also have their EAD card. We also strongly recommend that you have a copy of your passport easily accessible in a cloud drive, such as Google Drive or iCloud.  

Visa appointments: Social media is being used in the vetting of students for visas. Please review this article for more information.  

Visa Reciprocity Changes: Effective July 2025, certain countries will only be eligible for single-entry F-1 visas with an expiration date of 3 months after issuance. Please consult the US Visa Reciprocity Chart to check on your country's current issuance limitations. If you currently hold a valid visa that shows a longer duration and/or multiple entries, then this issuance will continue to be honored. A "single-entry" means your visa can only be used once. Any current student with a single-entry notation on the visa who departs the US after entry, will need to apply for a new visa the next time you travel outside of the US. If your visa has expired, you will need to schedule your visa appointment no earlier than the number of months listed in the visa reciprocity schedule AND enter the US before the limit has been reached (expiration date of the visa). Example: Your country has a 3-month visa reciprocity limit. This means that, once issued, your visa is valid for entry to the US for only 3 months. In this example, you should apply for a new visa no more than 3 months prior to your expected return date.  

Travel Ban: Effective January 1, 2026, Presidential Proclamation 10998 “Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States” banned entry to the US on tourist and student visas for an additional 19 countries not included in the June 2025 ban, bringing the total affected countries to 39:

• Original Jun 2025 Country List: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma/Myanmar, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen and those who hold Palestinian Authority Travel Documents.
• Countries Added in Jan 2026: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Zambia, and Zimbabwe

This does not affect your visa or your current F-1 status, and the government has clarified that current students with valid visas issued before 1/1/26 (Jan 2026 countries) or 6/9/25 (June 2025 countries) will continue to be able to reenter. Should you have a valid visa and decide to engage in travel, e encourage you to print and carry the White House Fact Sheet addressing this proclamation in the case that you need to show it to an immigration officer. If your visa has expired, you should not engage in international travel at this time, as student visa issuance is no longer available to citizens of these countries. 

It should be noted that the original country list that was being considered for travel bans in early 2025 included the following countries: Belarus; Benin; Bhutan; Cabo Verde; Cambodia; Cameroon; Djibouti; Ethiopia; Egypt; Ghana; Kyrgyzstan; Liberia; Pakistan; Russia; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Lucia; Sao Tome and Principe; Tuvalu; Uganda; and Vanuatu. Other countries may be being considered. The only bans that are currently in effect are the ones listed above, but students from these countries with expired visas may wish to take extra caution pending further updates to the Presidential Proclamation.

Visa Revocations: To see if your visa has been revoked, please visit ceac.state.gov. If you have had any interaction with law enforcement that resulted in fingerprinting/an arrest, you should assume your visa has been revoked and not engage in international travel.

• Students from China and Hong Kong: On May 29, 2025 the Department of State issued a memo indicating intentions to revoke Chinese visas At this time, we caution against travel for students from these countries. If you intended to engage in international travel, please contact your embassy well before your travel date to ensure that your visa is still valid.

Effective May 12, 2021 the US Embassy in Moscow has stopped issuing F-1 student visas. Any student from Russia with an expired or expiring visa is encouraged to remain in the US. Otherwise, you will now need to go to a 3rd country for visa stamping. The U.S. Department of State has designated the following posts for Russian student processing: Mission Kazakhstan and U.S. embassies Belgrade and Yerevan. Applicants are encouraged to check each post's website for the latest information on services and appointment availability at that specific post. Though these have been designated by the US DOS, it does not mean that you are limited to these posts. Please review our Travel Guidelines document for a discussion of third country national processing