WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service has launched
the Internet Web site that the nation's universities will soon use to
register international students -- the first step in the government's plan
to track the movements of all those with temporary visas, according to INS
officials.
Schools that have received INS permission to accept foreign students for
three years can begin using the Web site system immediately, the agency
announced Tuesday.
Other schools will have to go through an extended review period to gain
approval to use the system, called "SEVIS." The system becomes mandatory
January 30, 2003. On that date, schools not approved to use the Web site
will not be allowed to admit international students.
The approval process will force schools to prove they have the programs and
policies in place to provide the education that a foreign student has
applied to receive.
The Web site, which requires a user name and password, is aimed at making
sure international students take the courses they were approved to take and
attend the schools they told the government they would attend.
"We are going to make sure that those who enter our country to attend a
college, actually do what they have agreed to do," said Terrance O'Reilly,
commissioner of the INS's field service operations department. "This is
about guaranteeing that our foreign students live up to their bargain and
don't head off to places unknown."
The Web site is also intended to close many loopholes that have led to the
government losing track of international students. In past years, thousands
of foreign students that were accepted to more than one American college
switched colleges once they arrived. Others have simply disappeared while in
the United States.
When the Web site becomes mandatory, colleges and universities will have to
report when a student arrives at the school, and all other universities that
sent a letter of acceptance to the student are notified of the student's
plan.
If the student never shows up or disappears from a college, the INS plans to
track the student down with law enforcement agents.
O'Reilly acknowledged the enforcement arm for the new system will evolve as
it becomes clear how many agents are necessary to trackdown students. It has
not been decided whether international students would be treated as
criminals if they are found to have abused the system.
Schools must also report through the Web site whether foreign students are
making any shifts in their field of study. If a student begins taking
courses in subjects that might provide useful information to terrorists --
such as chemistry or nuclear physics -- INS officials might also make
inquiries.
Education trade groups and members of the education community have supported
the program.
"We think SEVIS is the single best thing that the government can do to
monitor foreign students," said Terry Hartle, a vice president of the
American Council on Education. "It will not require the collection of
information than colleges and universities currently collect. But all that
information was on paper and there was no possible way to get it to INS in
bulk."


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