The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has published a "final notice" memorandum to remind "preliminary SEVIS enrollment" schools that the statutory deadline for completing the application process (including paying a fee and having a site visit) is May 14, 2004.
The memo states that ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program office (SEVP) is working to complete the application process, including the scheduling of site visits for preliminary enrollment schools. Before a site visit can be conducted, though, schools must pay the required fee. The memo says that as of March 15, 2004, ICE had not received payment from over 400 preliminary enrollment schools. SEVP encourages preliminary enrollment schools to pay the fee as soon as possible, so they can conduct a site visit before the deadline. The memo instructs preliminary enrollment schools that believe they have paid the fee, but have not heard from SEVP, to contact SEVP as soon as possible to determine the status of their application. The memo also includes details on the fee payment process.
This memo only affects schools that were approved in SEVIS under the "preliminary enrollment" program, which allowed them to be approved without paying a fee or having a site visit [see 8 CFR 214.12]. Preliminary enrollment schools that do not have a site visit conducted by May 14, 2004 (a deadline derived from Section 502 of the Enhanced Border Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2002) risk interrupting their access to SEVIS, or having their SEVIS enrollment withdrawn. AMDOC#: 200404009