Academic Major Change

Find information about what actions F-1 and J-1 students should take after changing their major or adding a second major.

Note: This guidance does not apply to EAP Reciprocity students, Third-Party-Sponsored Students (e.g. Fulbright, etc.), Global Exchange students, or students in Special Programs such as HSI. The CIP code for EAPR and Global Exchange Students will always default to ‘24.0199 Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Other’ regardless of your major at your home university.

Update your Academic Major

When F-1 and J-1 students change their major or add a second major through TritonLink, ISEO will automatically receive a notification and the student's SEVIS record will be updated. Since your SEVIS record will be updated automatically soon after your new major or double major is approved and appears in your TritonLink, you do not need to report this change to ISEO.

Academic minors are not reported to your SEVIS record, so there is no need to request an updated I-20/DS-2019 if you add a minor.

Request an Updated I-20 or DS-2019:

ISEO will not automatically issue an updated I-20 or DS-2019 after you update your major. If you are planning to travel internationally after you have changed your major or added a double major, then you will need to use an updated I-20 or DS-2019 to re-enter the US along with a valid F-1/J-1 visa.

If you need an updated I-20 or DS-2019s, you must meet all of the following requirements:

Your new major or double major must be fully approved by all required offices at UC San Diego, and it must appear on your TritonLink. For more information, visit one of the links below:
- Changing major for Undergraduate students
- Changing major for Graduate students
You must be maintaining your current visa status - your SEVIS record must be in active status

Submit the Updated I-20 Request or Updated DS-2019 Request in iServices:

Find the Verification and Support Services category in the left menu.
- For F-1 Students:
  - Select the Updated I-20 Request.
  - Choose the Update Academic Major option.
- For J-1 Students:
  - Select the Updated DS-2019 Request.
  - Choose the Update Academic Major option.
Submit the required eForm. You will receive a confirmation email when your request has been successfully submitted.
ISEO has an average processing time of 10 business days. You will be notified via email when your request is complete.