{"id":3478,"date":"2019-07-02T08:00:52","date_gmt":"2019-07-02T12:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nacacadmitted.wpengine.com\/wordpress\/?p=3478"},"modified":"2019-07-01T14:31:43","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T18:31:43","slug":"feds-release-new-policy-guidance-regarding-form-i-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/2019\/07\/02\/feds-release-new-policy-guidance-regarding-form-i-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Feds Release New Policy Guidance Regarding Form I-20"},"content":{"rendered":"
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iStock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

New policy guidance<\/a> issued last month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Form I-20 must be issued directly to a student, not a recruiter or agent.<\/p>\n

The form<\/a>\u2014which serves as an individual\u2019s Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status\u2014is supplied to international students who have been accepted for enrollment at a US educational institution certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).<\/p>\n

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International students need the form when applying for a F or M nonimmigrant visa, entering into the United States, traveling, or applying for nonimmigrant benefits, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.<\/p>\n

The statement<\/a> from ICE notes that a Form I-20 \u201cmust be issued by a designated school official (DSO) at a Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school and sent directly to a nonimmigrant student, his or her dependents, or, for minors, to the parent or guardian of the nonimmigrant student.\u201d<\/p>\n

The guidance\u2014which affirms the federal government\u2019s longstanding policy\u2014comes following questions about whether recruiters or agents could receive the Form I-20 directly from a DSO, in turn controlling the distribution to the student. According to the policy guidance, SEVP officials are aware of instances where recruiters had obtained a student\u2019s Form I-20 and requested additional payment in exchange for releasing the form to the student, prior to the student obtaining a visa or traveling to the US.<\/p>\n

In order to address concerns of privacy and security, and to prevent fraud, the latest statement alongside other ICE resources<\/a>\u00a0reaffirms that US educational institutions should issue the forms directly to students and not recruiters.<\/p>\n

Learn more about Students and the Form I-20<\/a> and access additional international resources<\/a> from NACAC.<\/p>\n

Gustavo Lara is NACAC\u2019s project coordinator of educational content and policy. You can reach him at glara@nacacnet.org<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New policy guidance issued last month by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed that Form I-20 must be issued directly to a student, not a recruiter or agent. The form\u2014which serves as an individual\u2019s Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status\u2014is supplied to international students who have been accepted for enrollment at a US … Continue reading Feds Release New Policy Guidance Regarding Form I-20<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international-education"],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Gustavo Lara","author_link":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/author\/gustavo-lara\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peWmJq-U6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admitted.nacacnet.org\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}