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Welcome to the SEVIS Training for sponsor officials. This training is designed to facilitate your understanding of SEVIS in regards to the administration, maintenance, and management of the J-1
program information at your organization and your exchange visitor and spouse/dependent records. In this presentation we will discuss: Creating a New Exchange Visitor Record, Adding a Spouse or
Dependent, Categories that have additional required information, and the 212(e) Two-Year Home Country Physical Presence Requirement.
Slide #3
Disclaimer:
This presentation provides guidance for using SEVIS. It does not replace the Exchange Visitor Program regulations found in 22 CFR Part 62. To obtain administrative guidance on the Exchange Visitor Program, the Exchange Visitor Program regulations, or program or exchange visitor issues and concerns, contact the Department of State’s Office of Private Sector Exchange Designation.
Slide #4
Now let’s take a look at how to create a record for a new exchange visitor. The diagram shows how the system will navigate you through the creation process by highlighting the steps. We start by adding biographical information, entering contact and program information, then adding sites of activity. Spouse and or dependent information can then be added. The final page of the create process involves adding financial information. Finally, the record can be submitted when all required information has
been entered.
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To start creating a new record, select the program on the Listing of Programs page, by clicking the associated radio button, and then click the New Exchange Visitor button.
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The first page contains biographical information fields. This is the top half of the page. The left side of the page contains the name fields and the right side of the page provides instructional text to help with populating the fields.
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The next part of the page contains the demographic fields. After entering the Birth Date, the system spells out the date and calculates the age as of the current date. There is a type-ahead feature for each of the country drop down lists. Begin typing letters into the field and the system will display the countries that match the letters that were entered. Select the appropriate country for the exchange visitor.
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The last part of the Biographical Information page contains fields for the Foreign Address and Telephone Number. Click the Save Draft DS-2019 button to save the record as a draft. This button displays at the bottom of each page in the create process. Once a record is saved, you can leave the create process and return to the record later if needed. Click the Next button to move to the next page in the process. The Next button also saves the date entered on the current page.
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The second page in the create process is the Contact and Program Information page. The top half of the page contains contact information. If the exchange visitor’s addresses in the United States are known, they can be entered at this time by clicking the Add Address link.
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The bottom half of the Contact and Program Information page contains the program fields. To enter a Subject/Field Description, click the Select button. Use the Search field on the Acceptable CIP Codes window to enter either text or a number to narrow down the list of CIP codes. Click the correct code. The subject/field code and description will display. If you know the code you want to enter, type it into the Subject/Field Description text box. There is no need to use the search feature if the code is known. The corresponding description will display below the code. Enter a Program Begin Date and a Program End Date. There is a Delete Draft button at the bottom of the page. Click this if you know that the record should be deleted. Click the Next button to open the Site of Activity Menu page.
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We will now add a site of activity. On the Site of Activity Menu page, click the Add Site of Activity button and the Add Site of Activity page will display.
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Enter the Site of Activity Name and Address and click the Submit button.
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The following are some rules about adding sites of activity:
- at least one site of activity must be entered;
- multiple sites of activity may be added for each exchange visitor;
- the primary site of activity will print on the Form DS-2019.
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The Site of Activity Menu page displays all sites that have been added. We see that two sites have been added to this record. The first site entered is marked as the primary site of activity by default. To edit the information about a site, click the associated Edit link. To delete a site, click the associated Delete link. Click the Next button to continue.
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The next step is to enter information about spouse and/or dependents if any need to be added. Clicking the Next button will allow you to skip this page. Note the ability to add spouse/dependents is not available for the categories of Au Pair, Secondary School Student and Summer Work Travel. In our case, the exchange visitor has a spouse and a dependent, so we will click the Add Spouse/Dependent button.
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The Add Spouse/Dependent page displays. On the top half of the page, enter the spouse/dependent’s name. Just like on the Biographical Information page, there is instructional text to the right of the name fields.
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On the second half of the page, enter the Birth Date and the age will be calculated. Indicate the gender and then choose the relationship to the exchange visitor – spouse or child. When all required data is entered, click the Submit button.
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A spouse and/or multiple dependents may be entered from the Exchange Visitor Spouse/Dependents Menu page by clicking the Add Spouse/Dependent button. Dependent information can be edited or
deleted using the corresponding links. Click the Next button to continue to the next page.
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The final step of creating a record is to add financial information. No commas or decimal points are allowed in the dollar amount fields. Only digits are accepted. Remember to select whether the program has or has not received any U.S. government funding. The page will provide an indication of whether the system thinks the person is subject to 212(e), making the exchange visitor subject to the Two-Year Home Country Physical Presence requirement based on government funding. If government funding is not entered, the 212(e) indicator will display Not Subject. However, if government funding is entered, the 212(e) indicator will update to Government Financing. The Total Funding will update as funding amounts are added or removed. Additional information about 212(e) can be found at the end of this presentation. Click the Submit DS-2019 button to finish the process of creating an exchange visitor’s record. The status of the record is now Initial.
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The next page shows that records were successfully created for the exchange visitor, spouse and all dependents and a SEVIS ID was generated for each. The allotment of DS-2019 forms is decreased by one. The creation of spouse and dependent records does not affect the allotment. The SEVIS ID generated for each record is a link to the individual’s record. Click the Print Final Form DS-2019 button to generate a PDF file of the Forms for the exchange visitor and spouse and all dependents. The Forms open in a new browser window. Click the Create New Exchange Visitor button to go to the first page of the create new exchange visitor record process.
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We have shown the process of creating a record for an exchange visitor. This process is the same for most categories but there is additional data collected for certain categories. This table lists the additional fields for those specific categories. If you are creating a record for an exchange visitor with the category of Intern, Trainee or Student Intern, the additional fields for the creation of the Training/Internship Placement Plan will be collected at the same time as those for the Form DS-2019.
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SEVIS automatically marks exchange visitor records subject to the Two-Year Home Country Physical Presence requirement, Section 212(e) of the Immigration and Nationality Act based on Government
Funding, or the category of Alien Physician. Once SEVIS marks an exchange visitor as subject to 212(e), the indicator cannot be removed. If Consular Affairs makes the final decision on 212(e) that the exchange visitor is subject, there will be an annotation on the nonimmigrant’s visa. If the J-1 is subject to 212(e), any associated spouse and dependents are also subject. Note: Exchange visitors may also be deemed subject to 212(e) for Skills List.
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Thank you for watching. For additional videos about administering your exchange visitor program,
please visit our website at j1visa.state.gov/sevis.
