September 30, 2008

ICE Announces New SEVP Fee Structure

On September 24, 2008, ICE published a final rule setting forth a new fee structure for the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) that includes dramatic fee increases for foreign citizen students and exchange visitors, as well as the schools that admit them.

Most notably, the final rule will increase the school certification petition fee from $230 to $1700 and the school site visit fee from $350 to $655. The nonimmigrant student fee for F and M nonimmigrants has been raised from $100 to $200, with the fee for most exchange visitors rising from $100 to $180. Those schools that are currently participating in SEVP will not be required to pay additional fees to obtain recertification under the new structure. The full list of fee increases along with ICE’s press release and fact sheet can be read in full at: http://www.ice.gov/sevis/index.htm?searchstring=SEVP.

ICE has stated that the fee increases will fund operational and procedural enhancements to the SEVP program including the creation of a new tracking database. Established in 2003, the stated purpose of SEVP is to serve as a web technology-based information bridge between schools and various government organizations interested in tracking foreign citizen students, exchange visitors, and their dependents.