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SEVIS shows improvement, but problems continue

While changes have been made to the federal database that tracks foreign students, a General Accounting Office report stated problems continue to arise from the system.

The GAO applauded the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for enhancing developments within the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System but also said there was room for improvement within the database.

"Without formally monitoring all key performance requirements, DHS cannot adequately assure itself that potential problems will be identified and addressed early," the report said.

SEVIS, a web-based program designed to trace international students, was created in 1993 after the first bombing of the World Trade Center and was signed into law in September 1996.

Once Congress discovered that two of the terrorists involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks had acquired student visas, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service has worked to speed up the development of the tracking system.

SEVIS guidelines state that all undergraduate foreign students must have 12 credit hours each fall and spring semester, while graduate students are required to keep nine hours per semester.

Every university in the country was to have SEVIS installed by Feb. 15, 2003.

In order to strengthen SEVIS, the GAO report recommended improving the Department of Homeland Security's monitoring of the system's performance requirements. It also said the department should address educational performance concerns.

The report did note a few positive improvements as it commended the Department of Homeland Security for taking specific actions to improve SEVIS performance, such as installing a series of new software releases and increasing Help Desk staffing and training.

Despite these efforts, however, educational organizations continue to report problems, such as the quality of Help Desk assistance.

Accelerating SEVIS as the result of the 2001 attacks has caused technical problems within the system, as was a case at Stanford University. An official printed a student's immigration form and discovered the request had been sent to Duke University.

Mistaken arrests have also resulted from the SEVIS' technical difficulties. A Southeastern University student, who was originally from Thailand, was arrested in March 2003 after the university mistakenly reported that she had dropped out and found the data error could not be corrected.

Carla Coppi, associate director of International Student and Scholars in the University's International Programs and Services, has become familiar with SEVIS since it was implemented on SIUC's campus. Although she said no one has had to endure the horror stories of other universities, she has encountered problems while working with the system.

Coppi said if a data input error occurs while keying in a student's information, a call has to be made to the Washington, D.C., office to fix the typo. The mistake then takes up to three weeks to be corrected on the system.

Coppi said the problems in SEVIS could be considered understandable regarding the massive amount of information in the system.

"There are limitations that are to be expected from any computer program of this size," Coppi said.

Another problem existing in SEVIS is who would gather the fee from the students. Coppi said she soon anticipates word that money from taxes has defrayed the cost of SEVIS, which then would only require fees from the international students. But the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department and universities are in disagreement over the collection of the funds.

But a resolution, the GAO report stated, needs to occur, because "the fact remains that the longer this goes unresolved, the longer taxpayers will have to pay for SEVIS."

According to The Chronicle, SEVIS has been financed with $36.8 million in taxpayer-provided counterterrorism money and $34.3 million in fees collected from non-immigrants seeking benefits.

In a letter attached to the report, Michael J. Garcia, the assistant secretary for immigration and customs enforcement, responded that the Department of Homeland Security shares the GAO's sense of urgency and has taken steps to begin imposing the fee.

The Department of Homeland Security had filed its final rule on the SEVIS fee to the Office of Management and Budget in February and received approval May 19.

The Department of State also answered, noting that it is working with the Department of Homeland Security on a pilot project to collect the SEVIS fee in consular offices overseas, adding the department remains concerned that collection through consulates "will raise significant issues of cost and complexity."

The Department of State would have to re-train all of its contractors and add new cashier lines at its embassies and consulates if it were to collect the user fee.

Coppi admits to being skeptic about the system when she first heard about SEVIS, but said SEVIS has exceeded her previous beliefs.

"After using it, it is a lot more user friendly than I have ever expected," she said.

While she is warming up to the system, Coppi said she is in hopes that SEVIS and other global policies would not have a negative effect on international students' decisions to continue their education in the United States.

"I am very worried about the future of international student education in this country," she said. "If we lose that aspect of students coming from other countries to study and learn here, I believe the ripple effect would be very hard to overcome."