INS extends deadline for foreign student tracking system

MIAMI -- The Immigration and Naturalization Service has extended by 15 days the deadline for the nation's colleges and universities to begin feeding information about their foreign students into a new Internet database.\nThe INS had set a Thursday deadline for about 3,000 schools to be ready to begin supplying data to the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, meant to replace the paper-based system the INS has used for years to track foreign students.\nBut campuses were given until Feb. 15 after some colleges complained that the system was too cumbersome or was not responding properly. The schools were informed of the extension on Wednesday.\n"There were certainly indications there were problems that were cropping up. This is a way to afford those schools two more weeks to work through those issues," INS spokesman Chris Bently said.\nThe INS has had a mandate to create a computerized system since 1996. But the long-delayed project was accelerated after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Some of the hijackers had entered the United States on student visas but were not attending school.\nBentley said most of the problems involved the sharing of information between schools and the INS. He said the SEVIS help desk had received numerous calls from schools.\nSchools must provide information on the academic, personal and financial status of foreign-born students and their dependents. Colleges must also provide data on any disciplinary action, off-campus employment and whether the student has dropped below a full course of study.\nThe grace period applies only to newly enrolled international students. An Aug. 1 deadline for foreign students already enrolled still applies.\nAbout 583,000 foreign students were enrolled in the United States in 2001-02, according to the Institute of International Education.