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6-27: Guidelines for All Schools Regarding Submitting Third Step Verification Requests Through the SAVE System

Posted Date: June 27, 2018

Author:  Federal Student Aid

Subject: Guidelines for All Schools Regarding Submitting Third Step Verification Requests Through the SAVE System

In the Electronic Announcement (EA) dated June 8, 2018 titled “SAVE System Users are Receiving “No Records Found” Error when Submitting Third Step Verification Requests Through SAVE,” Federal Student Aid requested that schools receiving this message on all third step verification requests stop processing third step cases and stop sending DHS Verification Numbers to application processing to generate new DHS Verification numbers.

The inability for some schools to access SAVE records is due to a DHS-SAVE system hierarchy issue. DHS has identified the problem and is in the process of implementing a solution that will allow all authorized schools to access the SAVE system by the middle of July 2018. A subsequent EA will announce the date the SAVE system will be available.

To facilitate this solution, DHS-SAVE will identify at 5:00 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, June 27, 2018 all school user IDs and passwords created for the purpose of submitting third step verification requests in the SAVE system. These records will be moved into the new hierarchy configuration by the middle of July 2018. Therefore, Federal Student Aid (FSA) recommends that any Primary Destination Point Administrator (PDPA) who has not activated their SAVE User ID by updating their password or has not set up subordinate users, refrain from making any further changes in the SAVE system after 5:00 PM EDT, on June 27, 2018. PDPAs will be able to resume activating SAVE User IDs and establishing subordinate users once the DHS-SAVE system move to a new hierarchy has concluded. Password changes or subordinate users created during this transitional period will not appear in the updated SAVE system once this work is completed in mid-July.

Until the SAVE system is again available, schools should follow these steps to receive an updated Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR) through the Central Processing System (CPS). If the ISIR indicates that the student is not in an eligible noncitizen status, FSA will provide schools with the student’s third step immigration status response if it is available in the SAVE system without the student’s immigration document(s). This is the same procedure FSA implemented in May to give schools more information before SAVE user IDs became available.

NOTE: If Comment code 105, “Pending result of secondary DHS confirmation,” appears on the ISIR, wait up to 15 days for a new CPS system generated ISIR before making a correction to request a new DHS Verification number. SAVE requires this time to complete their Secondary Match review. Making a correction before receiving the system generated ISIR does not speed up the process and creates unnecessary ISIR correction transactions.

Step 1: School may submit a correction transaction to resend the record though the DHS match.

This will clear some transactions for eligible noncitizens that were updated in the SAVE system since they were first processed in the CPS.

To make a correction to the student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA®) record to generate a new DHS Verification Number on the ISIR, the school must:

  1. Log to FAA Access to CPS Online and select the applicant’s most recent transaction, open corrections, and correct (by re-typing the same letters) over one or more of these specific data elements: student’s name, date of birth or Alien Registration Number.

  2. Submit this update as a correction record to the CPS.

  3. When the institution receives a new ISIR in three to five days the institution must check the DHS Match Flags and comments on the new ISIR

  • If the DHS Match Flags and comments indicate that the student is an eligible noncitizen, process the student’s Title IV aid. The process is complete for this student.

  • If the DHS Match Flags and comments indicate that the student is not an eligible noncitizen, the school should send an email to: [email protected], providing, in the subject line of the email, only the student’s DHS Verification Number and the processing year (2017-18 or 2018-19) from the latest ISIR transaction for the student. Do not include the student’s name or Social Security Number.

Step 2: FSA, upon receiving the DHS Verification number from the school, will resend the transaction though the DHS match and check the student’s record in the SAVE system.

  1. FSA will resend the student’s record back through the DHS match and generate a new ISIR.

  2. The institution will receive a new ISIR in three to five days and must check the DHS Match Flags and comments.

  • If the DHS Match Flags and comments indicate that the student is an eligible noncitizen, process the student’s Title IV aid. The process is complete for this student.

  • If the DHS Match Flags and comments indicate that the student is not an eligible noncitizen, FSA will automatically research the student’s record in the SAVE system and will email one of the following responses to the school within 7 days:

    • If the student’s SAVE third step immigration status is available, and the student is an eligible noncitizen, an email response from an FSA staff member will contain this information and explain that this notification is sufficient third step verification to award and disburse Title IV aid. A copy of this email should be placed in the student’s file.

    • If the student’s SAVE third step DHS immigration status is not available or, if it is available, but the student is not an eligible noncitizen, the response will contain this information. It will also explain that if the student has provided immigration documentation to the school that supports the student’s eligible noncitizen status, the Financial Aid Administrator must submit it with a third step verification request via the SAVE system when the SAVE system is available in the middle of July.

A new link has been established on the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) website (“DHS-SAVE, Eligible Noncitizen”); located under the “Information Links” on the right side of the IFAP website, it is a repository for all electronic announcements, SAVE system instruction documents, Volume I, Chapter 2: U.S. Citizenship and Eligible Noncitizens of the Federal Student Aid Handbook, and other information related to eligible noncitizen issues.

FSA genuinely appreciates the community’s patience and assistance throughout the implementation of this process.

 

Publication Date: 6/27/2018

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