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THE INTERIM STUDENT AND EXCHANGE AUTHENTICATION

P 110239Z SEP 02
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS PRIORITY
SPECIAL EMBASSY PROGRAM PRIORITY
AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE PRIORITY
AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY
AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY

UNCLAS STATE 174234

 

VISAS, FOR CONSULS, ALSO FOR PAO''S

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: CVIS, CMGT, KPAO
SUBJECT: THE INTERIM STUDENT AND EXCHANGE AUTHENTICATION

SYSTEM

REF: A) STATE 113328, B) STATE 163094

1. Summary. On September 11, 2002, the State Department
will introduce the Interim Student and Exchange
Authentication System (ISEAS), which will monitor the visa
adjudication process of foreign students and exchange
visitors who enter the United States in F, J, or M
nonimmigrant visa categories. The contractor creating
ISEAS advises that the system will be operational on
September 11 and available to participating academic
institutions and exchange program sponsors. However, due
to the very short development period mandated by the
legislation ISEAS cannot be deployed before that date, and
participating academic institutions and program sponsors
will be unable to enter the required data into the system
before the statutorily mandated date. Therefore, full
ISEAS deployment on September 11 could result in an
interruption in the processing of F, J and M visas until
participating academic institutions and program sponsors
have an opportunity to enter the mandated data into ISEAS.
Because no student or exchange visitor visa can be issued
on or after September 11 unless the Department receives
"electronic evidence of documentation of the alien''s
acceptance," Department is devising back-up procedures to
ensure that consular officers receive timely electronic
verification of enrollment from the sponsoring educational
institutions during the first 30 days that ISEAS will be
operational, while minimizing the impact of ISEAS
implementation on the issuance of student and exchange
visitor visas. See para. 14.

2. Section 501[c] of the Enhanced Border Security and Visa
Entry Reform Act of 2002 requires that the Department
establish a transitional student and exchange visitor
tracking program 120 days after enactment (September 11,
2002), which will remain in operation until BCIS'' Student
and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) is fully
operational. CA/EX/CSD contractors are nearing completion
of the ISEAS web page, www.iseas.state.gov, onto which
approved institutions and exchange visitor programs can
enter student or exchange visitor acceptance documentation
for transmission to the Department. Adjudicating consular
officers or consular staff will confirm the provenance of
forms I-20 A/B, I-20 M/N, IAP-66 and DS-2019 by checking
ISEAS (per reftel B, form DS-2019 fully replaced form IAP-
66 on September 1, 2002). Department will provide more
specific guidance on this process visa in septel. End
Summary.

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Background
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3. On May 14, 2002, the President signed into law the
"Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of
2002" (Border Security Act), Pub. L. 107-173. Section
501[c] of the Border Security Act requires that a
transitional student and exchange visitor tracking program
involving electronic data sharing between schools and
sponsors, the Department and the BCIS be in place not later
than 120 days after enactment of the Act. Further, that it
remain in place until SEVIS is fully implemented and
participation by the academic and exchange communities is
mandatory - a date established by the BCIS as January 30,
2003. According to section 501[c], an "approved
institution of higher education or other approved
educational institution" must provide State with electronic
evidence of the alien''s acceptance at that institution
before an F, J or M visa can be issued. Upon issuance of
the visa, State must transmit notification of issuance to
BCIS.

4. The Department has developed ISEAS in order to fulfill
this mandate to establish an interim system for the
electronic monitoring of the foreign student and exchange
visitor visa issuance process until SEVIS is operational.
ISEAS will be the means by which the Department, approved
educational institutions and exchange program sponsors meet
the legislative requirements of 501[c]. ISEAS will be
operational on September 11, 2002; the Department will
provide more specific guidance on this process septel.
That portion of the Section 501[c] mandate that requires
the Department to inform BCIS of F, M or J visa issuance
will be accomplished using the existing datashare link.

5. ISEAS is being established as an interim system, with
the limited support and capacity implied by the term.
Therefore, it is likely that ISEAS will stand alone for its
entire lifetime, and will not be able to share any data
with SEVIS. As the date for mandatory SEVIS compliance
grows near, and more and more educational institutions and
designated program sponsors become SEVIS compliant, we will
find ourselves in a situation where designated officials
will have to report form I-20/IAP-66/DS-2019 issuances into
two separate databases, (ISEAS and SEVIS) and consular
officers will have to check both data bases to confirm the
provenance of those documents, until ISEAS sunsets on
January 30, 2003.

6. Because the Act was passed and signed in May 2002,
rather than December 2001 as anticipated by its drafters,
"120 days after passage of the Act" is September 11, 2002.
As the BCIS launched SEVIS as a voluntary system on July 1,
2002, what was intended to be strictly a transitional
program has become in practical terms a parallel
requirement on the academic and exchange communities, the
Department, and BCIS.

7. Note: With respect to J visas, while Section 501[c] of
the Act limits its provision to exchange visitors seeking
to attend approved institutions of higher education, the
Department has determined that all exchange visitor visa
applications should be subject to ISEAS verification. The
Department based this determination on its desire to make
ISEAS requirements identical to SEVIS requirements
regarding the participation of all exchange visitor
applicants. The Department also believes that this
determination more accurately reflects the intent of
Congress as expressed in the USA PATRIOT Act and the
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
of 1996, both of which contain provisions relating to the
electronic monitoring of students and exchange visitors.
End note.

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How ISEAS Will Work
-------------------

8. Aliens who wish to obtain visas to study or participate
in an exchange program in the United States must first
apply to an educational institution or other institution
that has been approved by the BCIS (F and M visas) or the
Department of State (J visa). When a student or exchange
visitor accepts an offer to study or engage in other
exchange program activities, the approved institution or
program sponsor must complete the appropriate form.
Academic or language institutions must complete the Form I-
20 A-B, "Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (F-1)
Student Status." Vocational schools must complete the Form
I-20 M-N, "Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant (M-
1) Student Status." Designated Exchange Visitor programs
must complete Form DS-2019, "Certificate of Eligibility for
Exchange Visitor (J-1) Status."

9. Section 501[c] of the Border Security Act requires the
approved institution or designated exchange program sponsor
to transmit electronically evidence of the applicant''s
acceptance to the Department. When ISEAS is launched on
September 11, 2002, academic institutions and program
sponsors will enter certain information from the Forms I-20
A-B, I-20 M-N or DS-2019 into the ISEAS web application
(provided at www.iseas.state.gov) for transmission to the
Department. The institution''s or program''s designated
official will follow instructions for entering student or
exchange visitor identification data.

10. As currently envisioned, the ISEAS system will consist
of two independent computer based subsystems with data
transferred between the two. The first subsystem will
contain an internet website with a direct link for approved
institutions and exchange visitor programs to enter data
from the appropriate acceptance document (forms I-20 A/B,
I-20 M/N, IAP-66 or DS-2019). To ensure data integrity,
the ISEAS Internet subsystem will validate the
identification data entered by the designated institution
or program official against the approved lists of
institutions or program sponsors. BCIS approved
institutions or program sponsors correspond to F and M
visas and State Department, Bureau of Educational and
Cultural Affairs approved institutions or program sponsors
correspond to J visas.

11. Once ISEAS confirms that the institution or program is
on one of the approved lists, the designated institution or
program official will enter certain student or exchange
visitor data contained on forms I-20 A/B, I-20 M/N, IAP-66
or DS-2019. (In the case of an individual participating in
an ongoing J program applying for a new visa on the basis
of a form IAP-66 issued prior to September 1, 2002,
information from that form will be entered. Per reftel B,
forms IAP-66 issued and dated prior to September 1, 2002,
should be accepted by conoffs in support of visa
applications.) ISEAS will then return a confirmation
number. The institution or program sponsor user must keep
a record of the confirmation number as part of its records.
The ISEAS confirmation number will serve as evidence that a
particular visa applicant''s data has been entered into the
ISEAS system.

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Consular Responsibility
-----------------------

12. Consular sections will use the second ISEAS subsystem,
an Intranet application residing on the DOS OpenNet, to
search for student or exchange visitor data. The search
will verify the information provided on the applicant''s
form I-20 A/B, I-20 M/N, IAP-66 or DS-2019. The subsystem
will allow officers to compare the student or exchange
visitor acceptance documentation presented at post with an
ISEAS record and mark the appropriate ISEAS record as
identified. Department will provide more specific guidance
on this process septel. Once the visa is adjudicated, visa
issuance data will be transmitted to BCIS as part of the NIV
data transferred by Datashare to IBIS/TECS.

13. Once ISEAS is fully operational consular officers may
not issue an F, J, or M visa until they or another member
of the consular staff have reviewed the acceptance data
submitted to ISEAS. This includes students/exchange
visitors applying for visas to return to ongoing programs
with previously issued but still valid forms I-20 A/B, I-20
M/N, IAP-66 or DS-2019. If the applicant''s program
acceptance data cannot be verified in ISEAS, the individual
should be directed to contact his or her sponsoring
institution or program.

14. ISEAS will be operational on September 11 and available
to participating educational institutions and exchange
program sponsors. However, due to the very short ISEAS
development period mandated by the legislation, the system
cannot be deployed before that date, and participating
institutions and program sponsors will be unable to enter
the required data into the system before the statutorily
mandated date. Therefore, full ISEAS deployment on
September 11 could result in an interruption in the
processing of F, J and M visas at a time when these
visitors are already seeing substantial processing delays
due to security related clearance requirements. While
there may be some institutions that can quickly satisfy the
new requirement using the ISEAS system, Department expects
that the majority will be unable to so quickly add the
required data into ISEAS. Because no student or exchange
visitor visas can be issued on or after September 11 unless
the Department receives "electronic evidence of
documentation of the alien''s acceptance," the Department is
devising back-up procedures to ensure that consular
officers receive timely electronic verification of
enrollment from the sponsoring educational institutions
during the first 30 days that ISEAS will be operational,
i.e. through October 11, 2002, while minimizing the impact
of ISEAS implementation on the issuance of student and
exchange visitor visas:

Posts are advised that, in most cases, if data regarding
a particular F, M or J visa applicant is not in ISEAS,
the applicant should be advised to contact his or her
sponsoring institution or program and advise it of the
need to enter data into ISEAS. Should the ISEAS option
prove unworkable during the 30-day period, posts may
accept direct e-mail confirmation of acceptance.

At their discretion, posts may send e-mail inquiries
directly to the sponsoring institutions and request e-
mail confirmation of enrollment. Posts in many cases
may be able to obtain e-mail addresses using internet
search engines or from the visa applicant directly. CA
and ECA will work on obtaining lists of institutional
web pages, and will be available to assist consular
officers in locating e-mail addresses.

If post cannot make the electronic verification
directly, the Visa Office working with ECA will seek the
electronic verification from the sponsoring institution
upon request from post.

15. CA, working with ECA and other organizations, is
alerting admissions offices of educational institutions
regarding the need for electronic verifications and the
possibility that they will receive direct requests for
verification from visa applicants, consular officers or the
Visa Office if enrollment has not been verified through
ISEAS, and asking that they respond promptly. We will use
this communication to further inform them of ISEAS and its
requirements. Septel will provide public relations
guidance which posts should disseminate as soon as
possible.

16. Minimize considered.
POWELL

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