ICE Prepares for SEVIS Deadline

SEVIS is the government operated computerized system that contains information about foreign students and exchange visitors during their stay in the United States. Friday, August 1, was the deadline for U.S. schools and foreign students to file with the Student Exchange Visitor and Information System (SEVIS). To date, 5,937 educational institutions have complied and are able to accept foreign students. There are over 600 U.S. schools that have not yet filed applications or have filed late applications. Because of this, there is a concern that foreign students attending these schools will be denied entry to the U.S.

To relieve this situation, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will try to make every effort to facilitate the admission of foreign students and visitors in cooperation with a SEVIS Response Team and academic institutions, while also protecting national security. ICE is establishing a command center that will operate 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week that will coordinate with schools across the U.S. ICE will work with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in addressing affected foreign students entering the U.S. ICE will also have technical and IT consultants ready to address any SEVIS computer systems issues that may develop.

ICE has also identified several possible scenarios that are likely to occur when foreign students enter the U.S. and has sent a memorandum to academic institutions about ICE responses to these scenarios. A SEVIS Response Team will work with Ports of Entry (POEs), Inspectors, Adjudicators, Investigators, schools, and students to resolve issues for those students with proper documentation (the school and the student are registered in SEVIS and the student has a SEVIS issued Form I-20) who are having problems entering the U.S. The Response Team will also try to obtain a SEVIS issued Form I-20 for those students who are registered in SEVIS along with their school, but do not have the SEVIS issued From I-20, so the POE will admit those students. If the Response Team cannot get an I-20 from the school due to the short time frame, DHS may allow some students to enter on a temporary basis with the understanding that the issue must be resolved within a given time period. DHS may make certain exceptions for students whose schools did not file with SEVIS by the August 1 deadline on a case-by-case basis.