International students and exchange visitors seeking to study in the United States
will now be able to monitor the status of their Student and Exchange Visitor Information
System (SEVIS) fee payments online, officials with U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) announced today.
A newly upgraded Web site dedicated
to the SEVIS I-901 Fee (http://www.fmjfee.com)
allows students and exchange visitors to verify online if ICE has received their
SEVIS I-901 fee payment and when the official receipt for the payment was issued.
Previously, this information could only be obtained by contacting the SEVIS program
office directly. The enhanced Web site is the latest improvement to provide enhanced
convenience and customer service to participants in the SEVIS program.
SEVIS,
administered by ICE within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is an Internet-based
system for maintaining information on foreign students and exchange visitors in
the United States. As of February 2005, nearly 753,000 students and exchange visitors
studying in the United States were registered in the system, along with more than
115,700 of their dependents.
Students and exchange visitors from abroad
who register with the SEVIS program are required to pay the appropriate fee -
in most cases, $100 - prior to obtaining their visas. The fee applies to F, J
and M non-immigrant visa classifications.
"Over the last two years,
ICE has worked to improve SEVIS by providing more convenient options and improved
customer service to all of the program's stakeholders," said Susan Geary,
Acting Director of ICE's Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
"We'll
continue to enhance the program to make the SEVIS program more user-friendly and
accessible. Our goal is to ensure that the nation's immigration system is as secure
as possible while facilitating the entry of international students and exchange
visitors into the United States."
The SEVIS fee was mandated by Congress
and is used to cover the costs of maintaining the program and to provide assistance
and technical support for SEVIS users. The fee can be paid on the Web, by mail
and at Western Union offices that offer the Quick Pay ™ service - currently
in more than 130 nations nationwide.
The SEVIS I-901 Web site at http://www.fmjfee.com
has emerged as a popular avenue for fee payment, with approximately 77 percent
of all fee payments being made through the Web site.
The new capabilities
on the Web site will help assure students and exchange visitors that their fee
payment has been received and provide them with an estimate as to when they can
reasonably expect the consular office to be able to independently verify the SEVIS
fee payment in their system.
Additional help links on the site cover topics
such as identifying who is required to pay the fee, the options for paying the
fee, how a third party can pay the fee for someone else, and how to obtain further
assistance.
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