How to Apply for a SEVIS Visa in the United States
SEVIS--the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System--is an Internet-based, U.S. government electronic-tracking system for all non-immigrant students, exchange visitors, and their dependents. SEVIS is used to satisfy reporting requirements of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the State Department. If you are in the United States on a valid non-immigrant status and are eligible to change your status to student or exchange visitor, you must comply with the SEVIS reporting requirements as a prerequisite for receiving your new visa status.
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Instructions
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Apply to and be accepted by a DHS-approved school or exchange visitors program. The DHS website maintains a list of approved schools located throughout the United States. A school that accepts you for enrollment will give you a competed Form I-20. An exchange visitors program that accepts you will give you a completed DS-2019 form.
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Take the Form I-20 or DS-2019 issued to you and use the information from the form to complete Form I-901 and pay the SEVIS I-901 fee. This form and payment can be completed online at the DHS website page maintained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). There are alternate instructions for downloading the form and mailing it and the fee to ICE.
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Complete and submit Form I-539 to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in order to apply for a change in visa status and receive either a student visa (either an "F visa" or "M visa," depending on the type of school that accepted you) or exchange visitor visa (called a "J visa").
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Tips & Warnings
You cannot begin attending school or any other program until you receive notice from the USCIS that your application for change in status has been approved.
If your application for change in status is denied by the USCIS, you must depart the United States at once.
The government has initiated an update of the tracking process, called "SEVIS II." Information about SEVIS II is available on the State Department website.
A foreign student or exchange visitor who fails to comply with the SEVIS reporting requirements will not be issued a visa or can have an issued visa terminated, requiring an immediate return to his or her home country. This can cause difficulties for any future visa application.
