This semester, the federal government has mandated that colleges and technical schools across the country enter all new international students into an internet-based data system.
The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service set a Jan. 30, 2003 deadline for all colleges to enroll in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. After this date, the INS will not accept any visa documentation unless it is processed through SEVIS.
The University International Studies Office chose to adopt the SEVIS program in July to get a head start, according to ISO Director Rebecca Brown.
"The INS had a window of time where we could be early adopters of the program," Brown said. "The institutions that weren't early adopters will be under much more scrutiny" by the INS.
The INS clarified that only new students need to be registered through SEVIS by the Jan. 30 deadline, after college officials in international studies departments protested that it would not be possible to register all existing students by that time. No guidelines have yet been specified for integrating returning students into the system, though the INS may specify requirements for those students in the future.
In addition to visa information, SEVIS requires that students report any change of address, name or academic curriculum, as well as a host of other information regarding school enrollment and course loads.
"One of the interesting twists in this system is that information that needs to be collected for new students is very different from what we've needed to report in the past," Brown said.
Rodney Germain, a spokesman in the Orlando sub office for the INS, where test runs for SEVIS were conducted in June, said he did not think the new system would discourage schools from accepting international students.
"I think [SEVIS] will make things easier" for colleges, he said. "This will help them to control and track students much better."
Germain would not speak as to whether the new guidelines are a direct result of the Sept. 11 attacks, but said SEVIS had been in production since 1996.
"This was something in the works for several years," he said. The program is an "upgrade" and "an initiative to improve the system we already had in place."
The program, which suffered from lack of funding in its early stages, was revived after the September attacks.
Brown agreed that SEVIS will eventually make the system of international studies "easier and more efficient," but said until it is implemented it will impose a serious work burden on the office.
"In the short term it has monumental work issues," she said.
International Student Advisor Richard Tanson, who works in the ISO, said that while the new guidelines will affect his relationship with his advisees, his job remains focused on aiding international students in any way possible.
"Our principle allegiance is with the students," he said. "We don't work for the [federal] government."
Tanson added that, while the government has always had the right to the information required by SEVIS, "the University has never before had a policing role."
Both Tanson and Brown expressed concern over the difficulty in educating returning students about the new guidelines, should the INS require all foreign students to register with the program.
"It's going to be a bit of a task to educate the University population," Tanson said.
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