New rules governing the Web-based computer database designed to track international postsecondary students studying in the U.S. have extended until August 1, 2003 the deadline for colleges to enter the names of all their currently enrolled international students. The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) announced the change in the December 11, 2002 final rules that implement the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).
While INS extended the deadline for entering names into the database, the final rules did not change the mandatory compliance date of January 30, 2003. Schools are required to sign up to participate in SEVIS by that date as well as use SEVIS to issue I-20 forms to all new students plus current students who need a new I-20.
The decision to set the August 1 deadline addresses concerns expressed by some institutions that the proposed deadline was ambiguous. The proposed rule said that for current foreign students, institutions would have until the end of the next academic term to input information about those students. INS spokesman Chris Bentley said the ambiguity arose because some colleges operate on semesters and some operate on quarterly terms.
"If I'm told 'by the end of the semester,' I don't know exactly what that means," Bentley said. "Now there is a solid date that schools can plan their compliance by."
According to an INS news release, the publication of the final rule "demonstrates the commitment of the INS to develop a system by which our country can invite international students and exchange visitors to [U.S. colleges], but also protect our nation’s security by maintaining accurate records on who is inside our borders."
School officials say common sense should be used in determining which students must be in the systems by the deadline.
Dixon Johnson, executive director of the University of Southern California's Office of International Services, said "we can't report on people who are not enrolled, and our enrollment date is at the end of August." That means that for his institution, the only groups this will affect are those enrolled for summer classes. "For those foreign students who are returning home for the summer, we issue them the new SEVIS I-20 forms, so that when they get back in the fall they enter the country with the new I-20," he explained.
Johnson also noted that "It is important to realize that SEVIS is a work in progress. There are a lot of details that have to be resolved."
"Everyone will make a good faith effort to be in compliance, and where there are questions the INS will have to provide guidance," Johnson added. "This is a tremendous change in operational procedures, not just for schools, but for the INS."
A few other final regulations differ slightly from the proposed rules. For instance, the final rule requires schools to report both a student’s physical and mailing address when the two addresses are different, and allows schools to have as many as 10 (rather than five) school officials cleared to enter data into the system.
The congressionally mandated Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 requires the INS to maintain updated information on the approximately 1 million non-immigrant foreign students and exchange visitors that come to the U.S. each year. The new SEVIS regulations apply to students carrying F-1 (academic) and M-1 (vocational student) visas.
Written comments regarding this rule must be submitted on or before Jan. 13, 2003. See the final rule for how to submit comments.
By Elizabeth B. Guerard
NASFAA Assistant Director of Communications
Posted December 18, 2002 on www.NASFAA.org, the Web Site of the
National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA).
Copyright 2002. Redistribution to non-NASFAA institutions is prohibited
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