SEVIS Notice October 23, 2003

To All SEVIS Approved Schools:

As you may be aware, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) includes various system functions that will cancel, terminate or complete active and initial student records under a variety of circumstances. For instance, F-1 student records that have a program end date or OPT end date 60 days in the past are designed to automatically change to a status of "completed," indicating successful completion of the program. These automatic record change functions were originally designed to run in the system on a regular basis to assure that, in cases where a P/DSO is not required to take action, or fails to take required action, student records will be automatically changed to the appropriate status in a timely manner.

For a number of technical and procedural reasons, these automatic system functions have not all been run on a regular basis over the last several months. With the high number of new users on the SEVIS system, it seemed appropriate to give schools that were new to using SEVIS more time to familiarize themselves with the reporting requirements and functions of SEVIS. Without this additional time, many new schools might have had large numbers of records inadvertently cancelled, completed or terminated. For this reason, you may have noticed records that should be in "completed" status, for instance, still appear as "active" in the system.

Now that all schools which enroll F-1 and M-1 nonimmigrant students are using SEVIS for both initial and continuing students, and have had some time to familiarize themselves with the system, these automatic record change functions will be reactivated. There are a number of separate functions in SEVIS that will either cancel, complete or terminate a record, depending on the particulars of that record. In an effort to avoid confusion, there will be an orderly phase-in plan for these automatic system functions. By activating these system functions in this manner, schools will have time to understand the SEVIS reporting requirements, update all student records accordingly, and thereby avoid inadvertent or inaccurate student record status changes.

Record Change Function:
The first SEVIS automatic record change function will change "active" records to a status of "completed" on the appropriate date.

• F-1 student records -- "active" records will change to "completed" status 60 days following either the program end date or the OPT end date, whichever is later. (This excludes F-1 students that are in the transfer process or that are changing program level(s)).



• M-1 student records -- "active" records will change to "completed" status 30 days following either the program end date or the OPT end date, whichever is later. (This excludes M-1 students that have pending extensions or transfers).

The second automatic record change function will change "active" dependent children records (children in F-2 or M-2 status) to a status of "terminated" on the day following the F-2 or M-2 dependent's 21st birthday in accordance with dependent regulations.

These automatic system functions will be operational on November 1, 2003. This means that, any "active" record with a program end date or OPT end date in SEVIS that fits the criteria detailed above will be automatically changed to a status of "completed" on November 1, 2003 and all dates thereafter. For that reason, the schools must ensure that accurate program end dates be maintained in the system. The dependent termination function will also continue to run on a daily basis starting November 1, 2003.

The other system functions that automatically cancel or terminate records will be reintroduced into the system on a phased schedule. Separate notices will be issued concerning their pending activation.

Alerts:

Schools are reminded to update all records as necessary and to review the "Alerts" in SEVIS regularly. These "Alerts" are intended to remind schools that action must be taken on a particular record to avoid inadvertent termination or completion. The attached "Alert List Summary" lists the major "Alerts" in SEVIS, including what action, if any, should be taken in response to them. For more detail, refer to the SEVIS User Manual.

You will need Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or higher to view the attached file. You can install or upgrade your version of Adobe Acrobat for free at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/main.html?awe_3010

Thank you,

Student and Exchange Visitor Program