UIC Office of International Services

"I am sorry to report that my experiences with the Office of International Services at UIC have been unsatisfactory. Despite the school's claim to be supportive of immigrants and international students, the policies and systems in place do not seem to favor them. In my interactions with the staff, I have found that some of them lack empathy and view students as mere numbers. They do not seem willing to go the extra mile to help us. One specific incident that highlights this issue occurred when I reached out to the OIS office asking for an extension on my program. Despite multiple attempts to get in touch, no one responded to my request. Eventually, I was forced by advisor to use my OPT to do my clinical rotations. When I reached out to SEVIS records, I was told that the decision was up to my school, and it was a frustrating back and forth that ultimately resulted in me having to use my OPT 4 months earlier than I had planned. Overall, I cannot recommend UIC to any international students looking to come here. There are no opportunities for us to grow or benefit from, and the school can be incredibly stressful. It is even more stressful when the professors and international staff who are supposed to help you seem clueless and unresponsive."

"Out of all the universities I’ve learned about and visited myself, UIC happens to have the worst international office out there. YOU CANT!!! Can’t serve only by email. You have to answer inquiries by phone. You have to have an expert on-site all the time. People don’t understand how much the social and governmental structures are different abroad, and not having the right support systems for these international students could cause disasters for them!"

"Terrible customer service. Will literally leave you to hang dry if you have any visa concerns. Their standard reply time is 5-7 business day which is absolutely ridiculous and believe me they take that long to reply and sometimes more. It doesn’t matter if you’re stranded or need an answer immediately due to reporting requirements or travel. Before enrolling in UIC as Ana international student definitely consider this as you will be at their mercy for your entire schooling and opt time period."

"UIC has many offices and departments delivering good services. This is NOT one of them. They take forever to answer emails, when you call to ask for your response they basically scold you and ask you to wait no showing any consideration for the urgency of immigration matters which are always time sensitive. They have to deal with each international student only once a year for visa renovation and even though they're extremely inefficient. When I set an appointment the advisor assigned was totally uninformed of the basic visa renovation steps that were the whole point of the meeting."

"This is supposed to be one place of contact for all issues of international students. Apparently they don't help you when you are stuck and they ask you write to them, which takes 5 business for them to respond. And worst of all, you just can't walk-in and get help. International students graduating from UIC be very careful, because if there is an issue you won't get help from this place."