Proposed Rule on Foreign Student Reporting
Posted May 17, 2002

As the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is part of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), DOJ announced on May 10, 2002 that they are proposing a new rule for foreign student (F-1 and M-1) and exchange visitor (J-1) tracking. At present, as was widely discussed after the attacks of September 11, 2001, there is no real tracking system for students and exchange visitors to determine compliance with the terms of their visa statuses.

The proposed new rule will implement the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). SEVIS will provide an automated system for exchange of information. Schools will be required to use SEVIS for purposes of issuing documentation to students and for maintaining up-to-date records on their statuses. The schools will be required to report information to the government via Internet regarding student enrollment, failure to enroll, changes in legal name or address, failure to maintain a full course load, and so forth.

The INS plans to implement SEVIS on a voluntary basis July 1, 2002 and to make the program mandatory from January 30, 2003. SEVIS information is transmitted to the INS and the U.S. Department of State.