The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) sent the following SEVIS System Change Notice to SEVIS users, to apprise them of the F, M, and J changes incorporated in SEVIS Release 6.9, scheduled for production release on the evening of Friday, October 28, 2011. During implementation, SEVIS (both RTI and batch) will be unavailable from 8:00 PM ET until 11:00 PM ET.
From: "Sevis, SysAdmin" <[email protected]>
Date: October 28, 2011 4:46:29 PM EDT
To: "Sevis, SysAdmin" <[email protected]>
Subject: Enhancements for SEVIS Release 6.9To: All SEVIS Users
Date: October 28, 2011
Re: Enhancements for SEVIS Release 6.9
Number: 1110-03
General Information
In the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) Release 6.9 are three enhancements. One enhancement will be to the Form I-17, “Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Student,” and the other two will assist in the work process.
The first enhancement will make field 20 in SEVIS adjudicated. This field reflects the average number of classes, students, teachers or instructors, and non-teaching employees. Some schools have 100 to 150 percent over the amount listed on the Form I-17. Making a change in field 20 will require an edit/update to the Form I-17 petition for adjudication by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Making this an adjudicated field will reduce vulnerability of a school going in and just changing the numbers without SEVP being aware of such change.
Another enhancement is a cancellation button for SEVP. During the update process, a school’s officials may request or SEVP may sometimes require further edits/updates to the petition. It is not, therefore, a denial of the petition but a cancellation. In the recertification process, SEVP may find that a school’s officials need to submit an update. If so, the officials should cancel the recertification petition. SEVP would then require school officials to submit an update before resubmitting for recertification.
The third enhancement is to correct an error in some schools receiving a Notice of Automatic Withdrawal even though SEVP received a petition in SEVIS that is still in the submitted status.
SYSTEM CHANGES
The following summarizes the system changes to SEVIS with Release 6.9.
SEVIS Batch
No updates to the batch schema are required for SEVIS Release 6.9.
F/M School Officials
Adjudication Required for Form I-17 Field
With Release 6.9, the Average Annual Number field on the existing Form I-17 (page 3, field 20 in SEVIS) will be changed from a non-adjudicated to an adjudicated field. This means that any modifications to the number of Classes, Students, Teachers or Instructors, and/or Non-teaching Employees will require adjudication by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Changes will not be reflected on the Approved status Form I-17 unless SEVP grants a favorable adjudication.
Cancelation of Form I-17 Updates and Recertification Applications
In addition to the current functionality that allows SEVP to approve or deny I-17 updates and recertification applications that are pending adjudication, SEVP will be given the ability to cancel these submitted updates/applications. If a cancelation occurs, the school’s officials will be notified via an email that will include the reason for the cancelation. An event will also be displayed in the school’s event history to identify when the update/application was canceled.
J Sponsor Officials
Display of Change of Status and J-2 Employment Data
When case status updates for change of status and J-2 employment applications are received from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), SEVIS will display this information on the associated J-1 and/or J-2 records. If available, the data that will display is as follows:
- Request Type – Change of status or J-2 employment
- Request Status – Pending, approved, denied, or withdrawn
- Visa Type – Both the ‘from’ and ‘to’ visa types for change of status
- Employment Dates – Both the employment start and end dates for J-2 employment
- Benefit Start Date – Date the change of status to the ‘to’ visa type becomes effective
- Receipt Number – Number assigned to the request by DHS