ICE Begins Reversing SEVIS Record Terminations

Multiple media sources are reporting that DOJ announced today that the "administration planned to reverse its policy of mass canceling student visas for international students and academics." DOJ's announcement isn't on its website yet, but with so many sources reporting this, and what we're seeing on the ground (i.e. reports from schools and affected students), it's reliable information.

If you're an F-1 student affected by a SEVIS record termination:

1. Contact your DSO. If your record is still in terminated status, wait a few days, and contact your DSO again. It's going to take a few days, and maybe a couple of weeks, for ICE to undo these erroneous terminations.

2. If you filed for F-1 reinstatement, reach out to your DSO because ICE is reversing terminations even with a pending I-539 reinstatement application.

3. If you filed a lawsuit, and your SEVIS termination is reversed, contact your litigating attorney.

4. If you had CPT, OPT, or STEM OPT approval and stopped working when your SEVIS record was terminated, contact your employer and head back to work. If you lost a great job, hopefully, you may get it back.

5. If you're on OPT or STEM OPT, check to see if the unemployment clock started adding days when you were forced to stop working due to the SEVIS termination. It shouldn't have but get confirmation of this.

6. Also check your Dept. of State record (CEAC) to see if the visa revocation was also reversed. This is another erroneous action that needs to be corrected, but hopefully, DOS does this proactively instead of waiting to be sued.

7. If the SEVIS termination prevented you from filing for OPT or STEM OPT, and you missed the filing deadlines, speak with your DSO and an immigration attorney because DHS should agree that USCIS will accept late filings.

8. If you left the USA, because you were worried about being detained by ICE, please contact your DSO to see if your SEVIS termination was reversed. When a person leaves the USA, they no longer have a US visa status, so we are not sure if ICE will reverse these SEVIS terminations. We need students and DSOs to share information. Also, if your F-1 visa was revoked, you will not be able to come back to the USA until the US consulate reverses the revocation or issues a new F-1 visa.

It's messy and will stay messy for a while longer for some F-1s, because ICE is likely unaware of the domino effect of their erroneous SEVIS termination decision. They didn't think about missed OPT and STEM OPT filing deadlines, and how that impacts USCIS, or the number of visa revocation reversals the Dept. of State needs to do. (Granted, the Dept. of State shouldn't have revoked the visas to begin with, so that's on them. USCIS at least stayed out of the mess, but they're now pulled into it with the OPT/STEM OPT late filings).

DSOs and attorneys continue to work hard to reverse the damage. Be patient with us as we work to get things fixed.

Take care of yourself & your loved ones,

Dahlia