R 030259Z JAN 03
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS
SPECIAL EMBASSY PROGRAM
AMEMBASSY CARACAS
AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
AMEMBASSY KABUL
UNCLAS STATE 001452
VISAS, FOR CONSULS, ALSO FOR PAO'S
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS, KPAO
SUBJECT: SEVIS AND NEW STUDENT AND EXCHANGE VISITOR FORMS
REF: A) STATE 113328, B) STATE 254094 and previous
1. Summary: During the month of January 2003 consular
sections will be granted access to the INS Student and
Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Septel
will advise posts of the SEVIS "go-live" date and expand
on instructions contained in this cable. SEVIS is the
permanent system that will record electronically all
significant events in the U.S. "careers" of
international students (F and M visas) and exchange
visitor program participants (J visas.) Beginning
January 30, 2003, all forms I-20 issued by academic and
vocational educational institutions, and all forms DS-
2019 issued by exchange visitor program sponsors, must
be created within the SEVIS system. For those documents
created on or after that date only the SEVIS system can
be used to electronically verify their provenance in
support of visa applications. See paras 8-12 for
preliminary SEVIS verification and issuance
instructions. Reminder: SEVIS is not yet live and as
yet not available as described in paras 8-12.
2. SEVIS will replace ISEAS as the mechanism for electronic
verification of prospective student/exchange visitor
status. As of January 30, 2003 educational institutions
and exchange visitor program sponsors will no longer be
able to enter records in ISEAS (see reftels B.)
However, ISEAS will remain available to consular
employees as a means of verifying both non-SEVIS forms
I-20/DS-2019 issued prior to January 30, 2003, as well
as some SEVIS-generated forms I-20/DS-2019. Consular
officers adjudicating F, J and M visa cases must be
alert to the issuance date of the I-20/DS-2019 at hand,
and the implications for the validity of the document as
well as the method of electronic verification. First-
time students and exchange visitors will be able to
enter the U.S. with non-SEVIS documents issued prior to
January 30, 2003. However, after that date all
continuing students must present a SEVIS-generated form
I-20 or DS-2019 in support of a visa application. See
para 5. See reftel A for background on SEVIS, some of
which is repeated in this cable, as well as a
description of SEVIS-generated forms I-20 and DS-2019.
End Summary.
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Background
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3. SEVIS (the Student and Exchange Visitor Information
System) is an internet-based INS system that will track
F, M and J visa participants from the time they receive
their initial documentation (either an I-20 or a DS-
2019) until they graduate/leave school or conclude/leave
program. The legislative mandate for SEVIS is Section
641 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant
Responsibility Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-208), requiring
that INS, in consultation with the Departments of State
and Education, establish a reporting and tracking
system, preferably electronic, for collecting and
maintaining data and information on foreign students and
exchange visitors. Other significant legislative
milestones are Public Law No. 106-396, which gave INS
the responsibility for imposing and determining the
amount of the mandated SEVIS user fee (currently
deferred), and the USA PATRIOT Act of October 2001 (P.L.
107-56), which allotted $36.8 million to support the
nationwide deployment of SEVIS by the end of calendar
year 2002.
4. INS launched SEVIS as a voluntary interactive website
for I-20 A/B and I-20 M/N issuing institutions on July
1, 2002. Batch-mode enhancement, enabling schools to
transfer information through software linkages (allowing
them to transfer multiple foreign student files to SEVIS
rather than laboriously enter them a case at a time)
followed later in the year. The INS SEVIS final rule
regulating participation by F and M visa-issuing
institutions was published in the Federal Register on
December 11, 2002. On December 12, 2002 the State
Department's Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs
published in the Federal Register an interim final rule
indicating that all designated exchange visitor program
sponsors are required to be enrolled in SEVIS in order
to be able to continue sponsoring nonimmigrants as
exchange visitors. Both the INS and the ECA rules make
clear the fact that compliance is mandatory by January
30, 2003. All new forms I-20 and DS-2019 issued on or
after that date must be SEVIS compatible documents.
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Continuing Students and Exchange Visitors
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5. Both the INS and ECA rules state that information on all
continuing students and exchange visitors must be
entered into SEVIS by August 1, 2003. The practical
effect of this rule is that academic and non-academic
educational institutions and exchange visitor program
sponsors must update all non-SEVIS records and
associated forms I-20 and DS-2019 issued prior to
January 30, 2003, and replace them with documents
created within SEVIS by the first of August. Both rules
state that certain reportable actions, including the
need for a new visa, will necessitate the issuance of a
SEVIS document prior to August 1, 2003. Therefore, all
forms I-20 and DS-2019 issued to continuing/continuing
students and exchange visitor participants on or after
January 30, 2003, and presented in support of a visa
application, must be SEVIS documents with corresponding
entries in the SEVIS database.
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SEVIS Documents
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6. The SEVIS-compliant versions of the I-20 are the Form I-
20A-B/I-20ID, Certificate of Eligibility for
Nonimmigrant (F-1) Student Status - For Academic and
Language Students, and Form I-20M-N/I-20ID, Certificate
of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (M-1) Student Status -
For Vocational Students. These are one-page documents
with a two-dimensional (2D) bar code on the right-hand
side. The Form DS-2019 that will be used in SEVIS is a
one-page document that, like the SEVIS-compliant forms
I-20, features a (2D) bar code on the right-hand side.
Unlike the non-SEVIS versions of the I-20 and the DS-
2019, dependents will be issued their own copies of Form
I-20/DS-2019. See reftel A.
7. Note: In order to meet a particular statutory
requirement for data entry, exchange visitor program
participants will, for the first few months of the SEVIS
program, actually receive two documents from their
exchange program sponsors. The first is their one-page
SEVIS-generated DS-2019 as described above. The second
document is a duplicate of the DS-2109 with a diagonal,
watermark-style word processing legend indicating the
form is for INS data processing. Should an applicant
tender this version of the DS-2019 in support of a visa
application, post should return the page with
instructions to remit it to the INS inspector at the
U.S. port of entry. These "watermarked" copies of the
SEVIS form DS-2019 should not/not be accepted in lieu of
the original. End note.
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SEVIS How-to
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8. Three separate processes are required for SEVIS data to
be made available to consular sections worldwide, and to
accommodate the associated report back to the SEVIS
database of the issuance of F, J and M visas. First,
SEVIS data is pushed from INS over the existing
"Datashare" link between INS and CA. Second, within
CA's information systems the Datashare load of pushed
SEVIS data is delivered to the Consolidated Consular
Database (CCD) for presentation of SEVIS information to
consular sections in the field. Third, visa issuance
data will flow back to INS through the present Datashare
process.
9. In the early months of SEVIS deployment consular
employees will be obliged to perform certain data
acquisition and entry functions that future generations
of NIV software will automate. To access SEVIS data,
consular employees will need to click on the "Consular
Tools" hyperlink on the CA Intranet web page, select the
NIV tab and select "SEVIS Lookup." From there, searches
for SEVIS records can be conducted on the basis of names
or the SEVIS ID number (See next para). For consular
section, SEVIS acts as a verification mechanism much
like ISEAS, in that prior to visa issuance the I-20/DS-
2019 presented with the visa application must be
verified against an electronic database. That
electronic database is accessed through a separate
computer function, as ISEAS verification is
accomplished.
10. However, unlike ISEAS, SEVIS calls for extra NIV data-
entry steps in order to record and report SEVIS
verification. Until instructed otherwise, whenever an
F, J or M visa is printed the SEVIS ID number - an
eleven character alphanumeric code beginning with the
letter "N" - must be entered beginning as the first
characters on the first line of the annotation field
followed by a space. After that space the balance of
the visa annotation can be entered. This annotation
policy must be followed religiously in order to allow
for recognition of the SEVIS code at INS ports of entry
until information system upgrades permit INS inspectors
to acquire the SEVIS ID number electronically. Septel
will advise the field when entry of the SEVIS ID in the
MRV annotation field is no longer required.
11. In the coming weeks the new NIV package, NIV 4.01, will
be distributed to consular sections worldwide. As has
been reported separately, NIV 4.01 incorporates many
more data entry fields then the current NIV software
package. Among the new data fields is a dedicated field
for the entry of the SEVIS ID. Entry of this SEVIS ID
in NIV 4.01 does not/not relieve you of the need to
enter the SEVIS ID in the annotation field of the MRV as
well. Only the septel referred to in para 8 will grant
that authority.
12. To sum up, here is a preliminary step-by-step SEVIS
verification and reporting guide. Septel announcing
SEVIS availability to consular sections will contain
further specific instructions.
- Prospective student or exchange visitor tenders SEVIS-
generated I-20 or DS-2019.
- Consular employee accesses CA Intranet web page.
- Consular employee clicks on the "Consular Tools"
hyperlink, then selects the NIV tab.
- Consular employee selects "SEVIS Lookup."
- Consular employee conducts SEVIS record check on the
basis of names or the SEVIS ID number; confirms
provenance of document.
- Visa adjudicated.
- If visa approved, enter SEVIS ID number as first
characters of the first line of the MRV annotation
field, followed by a space and the balance of the visa
annotation.
- Once NIV 4.01 loaded at post, SEVIS ID number entered
in the dedicated data entry field.
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ISEAS-SEVIS Transition
----------------------
13. As has been widely reported, ISEAS - the Department's
Interim Student and Exchange Authentication System (see
Refs B) - will sunset with full SEVIS implementation on
January 30, 2003. On or shortly after that date the
ISEAS internet site which is open to institutional users
(i.e. F, J and M visa sponsors) for the entry of ISEAS
records will no longer be available, and SEVIS will
become the vehicle for student and exchange visitor
status verification - the role currently filled by
ISEAS. However, since institutional users have been
instructed to enter ISEAS data on all forms issued
before January 30, 2003, whether or not the documents
are SEVIS-compliant, there will be a transition period
to allow consular verification of ISEAS records related
to forms I-20 and DS-2019 issued prior to that date.
Septel will provide more information regarding the
length of this transition period.
14. During this period of transition consular employees
often will be called upon to check both ISEAS and SEVIS
when verifying forms I-20 and DS-2019. Bear in mind
that any SEVIS document, regardless of its issuance
date, should have a supporting SEVIS entry. Therefore,
when seeking verification information for a SEVIS-
generated document consular employees should check SEVIS
first. When such verifications are successful there is
no need to double-check and verify the record in ISEAS.
In some cases, issues associated with data transfer
between CA and INS may have inhibited the transfer of
verification information for some SEVIS documents issued
prior to January 30, 2003. When seeking verification of
a SEVIS I-20 or DS-2019 issued prior to that date, and
there is no supporting SEVIS record, consular employees
should check ISEAS before suspending the case under
221(g) and advising the applicant to contact his or her
institution regarding the need for an electronic record.
Bear in mind that for a document issued before January
30, 2003, electronic verification can be accomplished
within ISEAS, or via an e-mail verification according to
the workaround procedures described in reftels B. For
documents issued on or after January 30, 2003, SEVIS
will be the only option for electronic verification.
15. During this period of transition ISEAS and all ISEAS
rules regarding e-mail work-around will remain available
for status verifications of first-time students or
exchange visitors presenting a non-SEVIS I-20 or DS-
2019. After January 30, 2003, and for the length of the
transition period, only first-time students or exchange
visitors have the option of presenting a non-SEVIS
document. As reported in para 5 above, all continuing
students and exchange visitors must have a SEVIS-
compatible document if they are applying for a visa
after January 30, 2003.
16. Department thanks posts in advance for their support
during the transition to SEVIS verification and issuance
procedures.
17. Minimize considered.
POWELL
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