The Form I–17, “Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Student,” is an important element of Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. You must submit this petition electronically to apply for and maintain your school’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). Check your school’s form in SEVIS frequently to ensure that all information is complete and accurate. This is important because only schools that are certified by SEVP may enroll F and M international students. You will also need to print out a copy of the Form I-17 to collect the signatures needed to complete the application.

The Form I–17 petition requires detailed information about your school. To help you fill out the form for the first time, SEVP created a tutorial to walk you through each step of the process. Watch A Guide to Completing the Form I–17 to learn more about how to properly petition for certification, complete each field of the form, add school officials, and add instructional sites for the first time.

To maintain certification, and keep up with reporting and recordkeeping requirements, be sure to make timely updates to the Form I-17 as needed. If you need to make an update to any field, edit the currently approved form in SEVIS and submit it to SEVP. You can use the Schools Portal to find more information about the certification process.