New U.S. ICE Initiatives Affecting International Students

At the time when the U.S. faces critical challenges in its role in the global community, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a series of initiatives to improve the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) implemented under its Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

SEVIS is an interactive web-based information system designed to collect and monitor data of all international students and exchange visitors in the F (student), M (vocational) or J (exchange visitor) visa categories and their dependents. It was first launched in 2003 as a response to the 9/11 mishap in order to provide a better way of keeping track of international students and scholars who come to the U.S. to study or engage in vocational research or training.

Since its inception, it was successful in effectively capturing real-time data on international students and exchange visitors in the U.S. by securing the collaboration of school officials and government entities in collecting and encoding this information in the database system.

In the SEVP quarterly report issued on October 7, 2008, it showed that as of September 30, 2008, there were 1,123,321 active nonimmigrant students, exchange visitors and their dependents in the SEVIS database. There were 1,435 exchange visitor (J-1) programs throughout the country with a total of 220,415 active J-1 exchange visitors. 9,542 schools were approved to issue F-1 and M-1 to a combined total of 773,077 students. The highest concentration of international students is in California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois and Florida.

The top five universities that issued F-1 are: The City University of New York (12,237), University of Southern California (6,695), Columbia University (5,944), Purdue University (5,866) and University of Illinois (5,574).

The top five schools that issued M-1 are: PanAm International Flight Academy (423), Sabena Airline Training Center, Inc. (248), Stmc Training Institute (223), Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (207) and Sierra Academy of Aeronautics-International Training Center (204).

For both F-1 and M-1, the top five schools are Cornell University (3,788), Houston Community College System (3,245), Santa Monica College (3,193), San Francisco State University (SFSU) and Northern Virginia Community College (2,018).

The leading fields of study for international students are in Business, Management, Marketing and related fields with 150,211 active students. Other top majors include Engineering, Basic Skills, Computer and Information Studies, Health Professions and Clinical Sciences, Visual and Performing Arts, Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Social Sciences, and lastly, high School and secondary diplomas and certificates.

Overall, South Korea has the highest number of enrollment with 115,852 active students followed by India, China, Japan, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Vietnam, Turkey and Nepal.

In line with the ongoing commitment to improve the SEVIS system, the following initiatives are under way for full implementation in the year 2009.

First, as groundwork to support these initiatives, the SEVIS fees were increased on October 27, 2008 from $100 to $200 for nonimmigrant students and from $100 to $180 for most exchange visitors. Other fee increases included those for school certification and change of school ownership from $230 to $1,700; and for school or campus site visits from $350 to $655.

Second, recertification of schools that issue F, M or J will begin on January 2, 2009. Recertification entails the continued ability of the school to meet eligibility requirements, regularly meeting school reporting and record-keeping requirements, and validation of student-reporting requirements, among others.

Lastly, the SEVIS II system will be launched to enhance the performance of the original SEVIS. This programmatic effort was an offshoot of the collaborative inputs of the educational community, law enforcement, government agencies and IT experts in making the program more timely, user-friendly and adaptable to the current needs.

Among the key features of the enhanced program are: more user-friendly and simplified data entry and standardized formats; the use of unique biometrics-identifier system to prevent document fraud; more advanced query and reporting tools and more efficient interface among users by expediting standard transactions through real-time availability of information and generation of completed forms and data.

These initiatives show that while national security remains a priority as the U.S. faces the challenges of international terrorism, there is a continued recognition that international education and exchange programs remain vital tools in opening minds, bridging gaps and promoting global awareness and mutual respect and understanding among members of the international community in these critical times.