DHS/ICE/PIA–001 Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)

The Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) was established as part of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) National Security Investigations Division (NSID) within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). SEVP oversees the certification of academic and vocational schools to allow enrollment of foreign nationals seeking entry into the United States as nonimmigrant students under F and M classes of admission. In addition, SEVP tracks and manages real-time information on F/M/J nonimmigrant students, their dependents, and the schools and sponsors that host these nonimmigrants, to ensure compliance with immigration laws and regulations. To facilitate the program’s work, SEVP collects, uses, shares, and maintains personally identifiable information (PII) on nonimmigrant students, their dependents, and the school officials who work with SEVP for the school certification process. Finally, SEVP works with the other Components within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other federal agencies to ensure compliance with all civil and criminal immigrations laws that align with HSI’s national security and public safety missions.

The original Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) for the Student Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) was published on February 5, 2005, and was last updated on June 15, 2017. ICE is publishing this PIA to replace the previous SEVIS PIA and subsequent updates, and document the privacy protections that are in place for the PII collected, used, shared, and maintained by SEVP and the systems that support its mission under ICE and DHS. February 2020

Associated SORN(s):

• DHS/ICE-001 Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)