Who is an International Applicant?

We invite you to explore the UNC Charlotte website and discover why, each year, more than 1,000 international students choose UNC Charlotte for their academic studies.

The university is recognized for its nationally and internationally renowned faculty, talented students, contemporary campus, and state-of-the art facilities and research labs.  UNC Charlotte, with a student body that exceeds 25,000, including over 5,300 graduate students, represents over 83 countries and is consistently ranked among the top ten universities in the southeastern United States.

For the purposes of admission, the UNC Charlotte Graduate School defines "international applicants" as those applicants who are not US-citizens and who hold, or who intend to hold, a temporary visa/status at the time of submitting the application-for-admissions and/or during at least their first semester of studies at UNC Charlotte. This includes students who hold or who intend to hold F-1, J-1, H-1, H-4 etc. visa/status, as well as those awaiting adjudication of their Permanent Resident status (i.e. pending Permanent Residents).

Likewise, the UNC Charlotte Graduate School defines "domestic applicants," for the purposes of admissions, as US citizens (including foreign-born naturalized US-citizens), Permanent Residents, as well as those on Asylee or Refugee status.

*Please note that your classification as an international or domestic applicant for admissions purposes is not connected to the classification of "resident" or "non-resident" of North Carolina for tuition purposes.