Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)

Q: What is SEVP?
The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) is the reengineered nonimmigrant student and exchange visitor (F,M, & J visa categories) process, converting what is currently a manual procedure into an automated process. This change is expected to improve data collection and reporting, enhance customer service, facilitate compliance with regulations, and help BCIS better monitor school and exchange programs. This program was formerly referred to as the Coordinated Interagency Partnership Regulating International Students (CIPRIS). CIPRIS was the name assigned to the now-completed pilot project, which tested the concepts associated with new data collection and reporting methods. Information obtained from this pilot system was incorporated into the national system development effort that resulted in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

Q: What is SEVIS?
SEVIS is an Internet-based system which maintains accurate and current information on nonimmigrant students (F and M visa), exchange visitors (J visa), and their dependents (F-2, M-2, and J-2). SEVIS enables schools and program sponsors to transmit electronic information and event notifications via the Internet, to the BCIS and Department of State (DOS) throughout a student or exchange visitor's stay in the United States. The system will reflect international student or exchange visitor status changes, such as admission at Port of Entry (POE), change of address, change in program of study, and other details. SEVIS will also provide system alerts, event notifications, and basic reports to the end-user schools, programs, and Immigration related field offices.

Q: Why is the BCIS developing and deploying SEVIS?
Schools and exchange visitor programs should already collect student and exchange visitor data to comply with existing regulations at 8 CFR 214.3(g) and 22 CFR 62. Section 641 of the IIlegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA) mandates that the Immigration establish electronic reporting of this data. Thus, SEVIS will automate the manual data collection process that schools and exchange visitor programs are already utilizing to gather information on their students, scholars and exchange visitors.

Q: What is the background of the SEVIS program?
SEVIS is being developed by the INS in partnership with the Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs, the Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (formerly the United States Information Agency), the Department of Education, and members of the educational and exchange program communities. The CIPRIS pilot project began in June 1997, and included the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport, the Atlanta District Office, the Texas Service Center, and 21 educational institutions in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina. The pilot project was designed to test electronic reporting and monitoring, as well as to support visa screening at Consular Ports and the inspection process for foreign students and exchange visitors at U.S. Ports-of-Entry. The pilot officially ended in October 1999, but the program is continuing as an operational prototype at these locations. The CIPRIS pilot institutions are scheduled for transition to SEVIS by Spring 2002.

Q: What data does SEVIS require?
SEVIS involves the same data that has always been required by law and regulation from foreign students and exchange visitors. The system is expected to enable schools and exchange visitor programs to better comply with the requirements outlined below.

• Name
• Place and date of birth
• Country of Citizenship
• Address
• Status (full-time, part-time)
• Date of commencement of studies
• Degree program and field of study
• Identity and current address of alien
• Visa classification, date of visa issuance or classification granted
• Academic status of alien (full-time, part-time)
• Academic disciplinary actions taken against the alien due to criminal conviction
• Port of Entry
• Date of Entry
• Practical training, beginning and ending dates
• Termination date and known reasons
• I-20 and application for I-20
• Number of credits completed per year