What Is SEVIS, and How Is the Government Using It to Go After International Students?

Colleges and universities across the U.S. have announced that over the past month, at least 1,680 international students—but likely thousands more—have had their statuses terminated in SEVIS, a digital records system of international students.

The numbers continue to rise, with institutions becoming aware of more terminations every day. And students and college officials alike are growing more confused and anxious as the existing complexities of the student visa system are compounded by the government’s attack on international students.

To understand what SEVIS records are and why it matters that they are being targeted, Inside Higher Ed spoke with four immigration experts and attorneys.

What is SEVIS?

SEVIS, which stands for Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, is a digital records system that allows the federal government to monitor international students in the United States. The system was first launched as a national security tool in 2003, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks; one of the attackers entered the U.S. on a student visa.

SEVIS is administered by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, within Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which itself falls under the Department of Homeland Security. Colleges and universities must be certified by SEVP to enroll international students and issue I-20 forms, which certifies that M-1 and F-1 students are eligible to study in the U.S.

A SEVIS record is distinct from a visa, which is a document that allows one to enter the U.S., and from a person’s immigration status, although that status is intended to be reflected in SEVIS records.

Since SEVIS was created, the system has facilitated the entry of more than a million international students into the U.S., according to the federal government.

What does it mean for SEVIS records to be terminated?

A student’s record in SEVIS can be set to a range of statuses that indicate where they are in their journey to study in the U.S. Students are given “initial” status starting when they are first admitted to a university through when they actually arrive at that institution, at which point they are registered as “active.” Institutions are then required to re-register that “active” status each semester to confirm that the student is still studying at their university.

Typically, a SEVIS record is terminated if a student has done something to violate the terms of their visa status, such as dropping below the necessary course load without approval or doing unauthorized work. It is usually the university, not the government, that terminates the record.

Students whose records are terminated can then apply for reinstatement. Jacqueline Watson, an immigration attorney based in Texas, said that in most of her past work with students whose SEVIS status was terminated, the student was eventually reinstated. But the decision is up to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, another agency under DHS, and it is discretionary, so there are no concrete rules that govern who is reinstated and who isn’t.

What is different about this round of SEVIS terminations?

First and foremost, the current wave of SEVIS terminations, which has impacted as many as 4,700 international students according to some reports, have come from the federal government rather than from students’ institutions. And the government is not telling universities when it has terminated a student’s record; instead, university workers are finding out on their own by checking SEVIS.

In addition, these terminations are not connected to violations of students’ visa statuses. Instead, they seem to be connected to students’ interactions with law enforcement (more on that below).

There is significant confusion about what a terminated SEVIS record actually indicates in this situation. Ideally, SEVIS records accurately reflect a student’s lawful nonimmigrant status—a term that refers to those coming to the U.S. for a limited period of time, such as to complete a degree. If a student’s SEVIS record is terminated, that generally means they are no longer permitted to study and work in the U.S. and must begin the process of leaving the country, though this can be reversed if they successfully apply for reinstatement.

But the government has argued in court proceedings that a SEVIS record is not inherently reflective of a student’s status. That has raised the still-unanswered question of what, exactly, the government is trying to achieve by terminating SEVIS records, if not to get the affected students to stop living and studying in the U.S.

The government has also argued in court rulings regarding recent SEVIS record terminations that students should seek relief by applying for reinstatement, as they would if their SEVIS records were terminated ordinarily. But Charles Kuck, a Georgia-based attorney who is representing dozens of international students whose records have been terminated, told Inside Higher Ed last week that at least two of his clients’ institutions were told directly by the federal government not to bother seeking reinstatement because those applications would not be approved.

What happens to a student whose SEVIS record has been terminated?

Right now, it’s unclear. Again, the government has indicated in court filings that there is nothing obliging those affected to leave the country.

Nevertheless, DHS’s guidance regarding SEVIS terminations states that there are several penalties for a SEVIS termination that could negatively impact international students. The guidance states, for example, that a student whose SEVIS record has been terminated may not re-enter the U.S. after traveling abroad, even though they would be allowed to under normal F-1 and M-1 status.

Of course, some attorneys have also expressed concern that students whose visa records have been affected will eventually be detained or forced to leave the country.

Which students are being targeted?

According to lawyers and other experts, it appears the students who have been impacted are those who have had any interaction with law enforcement, even small traffic infractions or charges that were dismissed, which wouldn’t typically lead to visa terminations.

The government has not said explicitly whom they are targeting. In affidavits by Andre Watson, a senior DHS official, filed as part of the government’s response to several lawsuits from international students, Watson wrote that each of the plaintiffs’ “information was run against criminal databases.” The affidavits provided no further information regarding how they chose which students to search for and which databases were used.

Several of the most high-profile cases involved vocal pro-Palestinian student protesters. Ranjani Srinivasan, a Columbia University Ph.D. student who escaped to Canada to avoid ICE after her visa status was revoked, had previously been arrested while occupying the university’s Hamilton Hall, The New York Times reported. Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained at Columbia by ICE officials, is a Columbia graduate who had helped lead student protests.

But that trend seems to have waned. Some of the lawsuits that have been filed recently specifically note that the plaintiffs never participated in protests.

How are institutions and international students responding?

Upon seeing that students’ SEVIS records were terminated, some college officials told them they should plan to leave the country, according to a review of court records by The Intercept. Other institutions have advised their students to reach out to legal counsel.

Students, meanwhile, have to make the difficult choice of whether to leave or try to stay in the U.S. Some have reportedly already self-deported to avoid detention in the U.S., while a slew of others—upward of 170—have filed lawsuits in an attempt to have the terminations reversed.