Apr 27

Volcano in Iceland: A D”ash” of Humor Required!

By Missy Gluckmann SEVIS, Travel Tips, USCIS, faculty led study abroad, travel insurance No Comments »

The recent volcano in Iceland had those of us calling our institution’s insurance providers to find out if we had, in fact, purchased the “natural disaster” flight interruption insurance.  I thought those of you around the globe would enjoy reading about how The United States Citizenship and Immigration Service’s (USCIS) dealt with the volcano.  They posted the following “special update related to the volcano eruption in Iceland” on their web site on April 21st:

This advisory is for foreign nationals stranded in the U.S. because of the airport closures in Europe due to the Icelandic volcano eruption.  If you have exceeded or are about to exceed your authorized stay in the U.S. you may be permitted up to 30 days to depart.

Visitors traveling under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP):

  • If you are at an airport, contact the U.S. Customs and Border Protection office at the airport.
  • If you are not at an airport, visit the local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.

Visitors traveling under a non-immigrant visa:

  • Visit the local U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office.
  • Bring your passport, itinerary for the canceled flight, and your I-94 departure record.

Special Situations

Sometimes natural catastrophes and other extreme situations can occur that are beyond your control. These events can affect your USCIS application, petition or immigration status. We cannot anticipate these events, but will do our best to help you get the benefits for which you qualify.

When requested, the following options may be available to people affected by natural catastrophes and other extreme situations:

Extensions & Changes of Status
We recognize that when affected by a disaster you may, through no fault of your own, fall out of status. When applying for an extension or change in status due to a disaster, we may consider your request if you show how it is directly connected to the disaster.

Fee Waiver
If you are unable to pay the fee for a USCIS service or benefit, you may request that your fee be waived for certain forms.

Employment Authorization
As an academic student, you may need to work off-campus if a disaster has affected your ability to support yourself. The disaster may occur in the United States and prevent you from working on-campus or the disaster may occur overseas and affect your economic support. If you can demonstrate that you are from an affected country or region and you have been recommended for such employment by the Designated School Official (DSO), you may be eligible to receive employment authorization when filing the I-765, Application for Employment Authorization.

Document Replacement
If you have lost your USCIS-issued documents through no fault of your own, you may show your need for replacing the documents.

To replace a/n… You must file a…
Green Card Form I-90, Application to Replace Permanent Residence Card, or request interim evidence of permanent residence stamp (I-551 stamp) from a USCIS Field Office
Form I-94 Form I-102, Application for Replacement/Initial Nonimmigrant Arrival/Departure Record
Employment Authorization Document Form I-765, Application for Employment Authorization

Abandonment or Failure to Respond to a Request for Evidence
If you have not appeared for an interview or submitted evidence, you may show how the disrupting event affected your connection to USCIS and your ability to appear or submit documents as required.

Expedited Processing
If you need USCIS to consider your request for a service or benefit more quickly, you may make that request when filing or after you file.

I have to admit, I did giggle out loud when I read this. Why? Here were my immediate thoughts:

1) During times of disaster, I wonder how incredibly stressful it would be for a student to think about dealing with these forms (the site doesn’t actually LINK to the forms!) and pleading a case for a fee waiver.

2)  I wonder how long it will take for students to get a reply if I-765 applications are running an average of 90 days?!

3) For those on the VWP instructed to go to the Customs and Border Protection Office at the airports, I kept imagining that the lines there would be more stressful than falling accidentally out of status!

I would be interested in hearing how your country dealt with “status” related to the volcano AND how you interpret this USCIS special announcement.

Meanwhile, for those of you administering study abroad programs, be sure to call your insurance company – that volcano may not be finished spewing ash yet!

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Nov 04

SEVIS II Overview

By Missy Gluckmann SEVIS No Comments »

This posting is a deviation from study abroad program that depart from the United States.  Today, as I’m writing from the NAFSA conference, I am reporting on a tool called SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Informtion System), the US government’s web based technology that is used to track visiting students and their dependents while in the US for their studies.  This posting will give you an idea of complex the process can be to bring a student or scholar into the US, which will make many of you feel a bit better about the hoops that you may need to jump through to obtain a visa to travel or study outside the US!

For some time now, we have heard about upcoming deployment of  ”SEVIS II”, so today I listened in at the NAFSA Bi-regional conference about the changes to the system.  The deployment will take place in two phases, however both are behind track.  Phase One – Initial Operating Capability (IOC) is now expected to take place in Spring 2010, although one presenter commented that she believes it may be unlikely to reach the February 2010 target date.  Phase Two – Full Operating Capability (FOC) is expected to take place at least 6 months after Phase One deployment.

The goal of SEVIS II is to have only one ID number for each visitor to the US.  Currently in SEVIS, a student can have multiple SEVIS numbers.  SEVIS II will instead have an IIN (Immigration Identification Number) and anyone in the world can apply for an IIN number.   The new system is also intended to create a paperless process, so Designated School Officials (DSOs) will not have to print multiple I-20s for students. (An I-20 is a goverment document that is issued by a school or university which is to be presented by a student at a US embassy/consulate when he/she applies for an F1 student visa.) A printed I-20 will be needed for certain circumstances in the US, such as requesting a license at the local DMV.  SEVP is calling this the “domestic I-20.”

Students will also have the ability to enter limited data into the system, which is somewhat controversial.  While it increases the student’s accountability, it does raise concerns in terms of accuracy and consistency of their legal names.  SEVIS II does include a data field for “nickname”.  However, the expected search engine will identify names by date of birth and school.  One can only imagine how many common names there will be across the system and publicly sharing the date of birth is of great concern to us because of FERPA.  USCIS‘s response to this concern is that the Consular Office and SEVP can change the name in SEVIS II if it does not match the passport name.

We are also being told that future Optional Practical Training (OPT) requests will be routed electronically through SEVIS II; if true this will save an awful lot of trees!

When the site eventually goes live, and when that will REALLY be is anyone’s guess, there will be a significant training rolled out.  A SEVIS II group has even been set up on yahoo groups to keep those who are interested informed about issues and progress in development.  To register for this free group, join at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sevisii

My opinion of SEVIS II is that the features that will allow it to function in a nearly paperless environment will be of great value in terms of efficiency and the environment. While I do have concerns about the student entering data into the system, I am reserving judgment about the overall upgrade to the system until it is officially rolled out. Having been a DSO in the early/mid 1990s at New York University, pre-SEVIS, the work was done manually.  Faxes and paperwork were flying everywhere and the process was not at all efficient when compared to the benefit of the SEVIS technology.  Returning to foreign student advising in 2008, I was concerned about the SEVIS reporting requirements, based on heresay from colleagues in the field.  The reality is that SEVIS is relatively easy to work with and the customer service staff is generally very knowledgable and helpful, particularly when you have a small international student population.  The challenges with SEVIS have been more with the interface with other databases, occasionally tying up a student in the bureaucracy for months at a time, although thankfully I have found this to be rare.  SEVIS II will require us to change how we handle our work for international students.  Change can be difficult; human nature is to resist it.   So I will hold back until I see how the system works “live”, and at the rate that the project teams at USCIS are moving, it could easily be another 12 – 18 months before that happens.

Stay tuned!

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