International Students and Schools

8 USC 272(c), added by Section 452(c) of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, requires the Office of the Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) Ombudsman to make an annual report to Congress. The CIS Ombudsman's Annual Report to Congress page states: "By statute, the Office of the Citizenship and

"U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Wednesday preliminary results from Operation OPTical Illusion, a law enforcement operation targeting nonimmigrant students who fraudulently used the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program to remain in the United States... The operation

On the night of March 12, 2020, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) provided NAFSA with the following statement: “SEVP is committed to remaining flexible in allowing schools to make temporary procedural adaptations so nonimmigrant students can continue to make normal forward progress in

"The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in most schools using on-line or distance education modalities as part of their strategy to mitigate interruptions to coursework. This has both academic implications, which apply to domestic and international students alike, and immigration questions, because of the

Caution! For FY 2024 F-1 cap-gap purposes, the Form I-129 petition requesting change of status and an employment start date of October 1, 2023 must still be received by USCIS before the student's OPT expires (for cap-gap extension of employment benefits) or before the expiration of the student's

SEVP written responses to pre-submitted questions from NAFSA, for the Fall 2019 NAFSA Regional Conferences.

Beginning with SEVIS Release 6.49 (scheduled release date November 17, 2019), DSOs will be able to upload Form I-983 training plans in SEVIS when recommending initial STEM OPT, adding a STEM employer, and at the 12 and 24 month self-evaluation reporting periods. View SEVP's: SEVIS Release 6.49

According to SEVP's Broadcast Message 1910-01 (October 2, 2019), after the SEVP Portal upgrades to Releases 1.10 and 1.11 (as soon as October, 2019): "students will only have access to the SEVP Portal for up to six months after their OPT ends... In preparation for account closure, SEVP strongly

On September 27, 2019, the Student and Exchange Visitor Program issued policy guidance on the obligations of schools and students to document that there is a direct relationship between the student's major field of study and the work the student does on pre-completion OPT, standard post-completion