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South Asian Network
18173 S. Pioneer Blvd
Suite I, 2nd Floor
Artesia, CA 90701
Tel: 562.403.0488
Fax: 562.403.0487
Email:
saninfo@southasiannetwork.org

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HISTORY OF STUDENT & EXCHANGE VISITOR INFORMATION SYSTEM (SEVIS)
For more than 50 years, U.S. educational institutions have been required to maintain and manage data about foreign students and exchange visitors during their stay in the United States. In the 1980’s, U. S. schools were required to collect and report data on F-1 students to the former Immigration & Nationality Services (INS). Reporting was done annually via a computer printout mailed by schools to their district INS office. By 1988, the INS requested that schools cease reporting annually because there was no method available to accurately collect and store the data. The 1993 World Trade Center bombing led to passage of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. This law mandated the development of a tracking system for students who had F, M, and J visas using available technology, and added some new reporting requirements to those that had been in effect since the early 1980s. In 1997, a pilot-tracking program known as Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (CIPRIS) was developed with a small test groups of schools in the South. The pilot program ended in 1999 when INS switched from software to web technology, and the program was renamed Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The attacks of September 11, 2001 led Congress to pass a law requiring all U.S. colleges and universities to track foreign students and scholars electronically by January 2003. The subsequent passage of the Enhanced Border Security Act added more data collection requirements. SEVIS is a government, computerized system that maintains and manages data about foreign students and exchange visitors during their stay in the United States. In the past, this was a decentralized and paper-driven system and SEVIS, for the first time, automates and centralizes this data.

WHAT IS STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR INFORMATION SYSTEM (SEVIS)?

• It is an integral component of the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indication Technology (U.S. VISIT) system.

• SEVIS is a government, Internet-based system that facilitates electronic tracking, reporting and monitoring of non-immigrant students (F and M visa), exchange visitors (J visa), and their dependents (F-2, M-2, and J-2) during their stay in the United States.

• SEVIS enables schools and program sponsors to transmit electronic information to the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and Department of State (DOS) on non-immigrant students, exchange visitors and their dependents to ensure that they arrive in the United States, show up and register at the school or exchange program, and properly maintain their status during their stay.

• Schools will now be notified when a student has entered using his/her I-20 form (Student Visa Petition). This puts the school on notice that the individual is supposed to be headed to that campus. The school is then required by these regulations - through SEVIS - to notify U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) within 30 days of the school’s registration date whether or not the student has registered for classes. SEVIS sends a notification to the Designated School Official if s/he forgets to register.

LAW

• Section 641 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 1996 requires ICE to collect current information on an ongoing basis from schools and exchange programs relating to non-immigrant students and exchange visitors during the course of their stay in the United States.

• Section 641 USA PATRIOT Act of 2001 was amended to require full implementation of SEVIS prior to January 1, 2003.

• The Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002 adds to and clarifies the requirement to collect information, as well as requires an educational institution to report any failure of an alien to enroll no later than 30 days after registration deadline.

IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING STATUS

• It is very important that students continue to maintain status while on a student visa.

• A student may fail to maintain status by dropping from full-time to part-time enrollment without prior approval from the Designated School Official (DSO), attending a school other than the one authorized, failing to apply for a transfer or extension, working without authorization, and failing to report a change of address.

• Students who fail to maintain status lose the privileges of their student visa and may be deported.

• Students may be denied re-entry to the United States or requests to change status, prevented from pursuing a graduate program, refused Practical Training, and may be denied future visa applications.

SEVIS REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

• No later than 30 days following the deadline for registering for classes, the school is required to report if a student fails to register. Furthermore, during each term or session, and no later than 30 days after the deadline for registering for classes, schools are required to report the following registration information:

  • Whether the student has enrolled at the school, dropped below a full course of study without prior authorization by the DSO, or failed to enroll,

  • The current address of each enrolled student,

  • The start date of the student’s next session, term, semester, trimester, or quarter.

• Within 21 days of a change of any information, schools will be required to report the following information; or “reportable events”:

  • Any student who has failed to maintain status or complete his or her program,

  • A change of the student’s or dependents legal name or U.S. address,

  • Any student who has graduated early or prior to the program end date,

  • Any disciplinary action taken by the school against the student as a result of the student being convicted of a crime,

  • Termination date and reason for termination,

  • Any other notification request made by SEVIS with respect to the current status of the student.

PASSWORD INFORMATION

• Students have to obtain an ID and password for creating and submitting electronic forms. To register for a new account, access the SEVIS Log-in page at https://egov.immigration.gov/sevis. If you forget your password, contact the SEVIS Help Desk at 1 800 892 4829.

REDUCED COURSE LOAD FOR A STUDENT

• In the case of an illness or medical condition, an F-1 student may be authorized to reduce his/her course load for a period not to exceed 12 months.

• Although a student may be authorized for up to 12 total months of a reduced course load in the case of an illness or medical condition, a DSO must re-authorize the reduction of each term or session, and must update this authorization in SEVIS.

• The 12-month limit on the authorization to reduce course load for illness or medical condition is applied per each particular program level. If the student completes one program and advances to a different program level, the DSO may authorize another reduction in course load.

• ICE will allow DSOs to accept medical documentation provided by licensed medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, or licensed clinical psychologists to substantiate a student’s reason for dropping below a full course of study for illness or medical condition.

TRANSFERS

• Foreign students may not remain in the United States between programs if the student will not resume classes within 5 months of transferring out of the current school, or within 5 months of the program completion date as indicated on the Form I-20 issued by the current school, whichever date is earlier.

• The transferring student may apply to and be accepted by any number of ICE-authorized schools. There is no limit on the number of schools to which a transferring F-1 or M-1 student may apply, however there is a restriction on the number of SEVIS Forms I-20 that may be issued to a transferring student and the student must first select one school to which s/he is transferring.

OPTIONAL PRACTICAL TRAINING (OPT)

• Time spent studying abroad may count toward the one full academic year requirement, but the student must have spent at least one full academic term in a full course of study in the United States prior to going abroad to study.

• The school that recommends a foreign student for optional practical training remains responsible for maintaining the students records in SEVIS during the time that training is authorized.

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY Act (FERPA)

FERPA (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Generally, FERPA restricts the ability of an educational agency or institution that accepts certain Federal funding to disclose personal information contained in a student’s educational record. In accordance with section 641(c)(2) of IIRIRA, however, the Assistant Undersecretary for ICE is permitted to waive FERPA to the extent necessary to implement SEVIS.

Hamid Khan
800 281 8111 or 562 403 0488
hamid@southasiannetwork.org

18173 Pioneer Blvd. Suite I · Artesia, CA 90701 ·
· website: www.southasiannetwork.org ·
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General information only; Not intended as substitute for legal advise. For further guidance, consult with an experienced immigration attorney.