Only schools certified by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) can enroll F and/or M international students. The first step to gain SEVP certification is to complete the Form I-17, “Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Student.”

 

A payment is required as part of the SEVP certification process and school officials must use Pay.gov to make their necessary payments. Pay.gov is an official U.S. government website that makes it easy to submit secure payments to the federal government. Many common payment forms are accepted including credit cards, debit cards and direct debit. 

 

Once you have completed and submitted your school’s Form I-17 in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), the system transmits the Form I-17 to SEVP, and SEVIS will display a screen confirming your application submission. 

 

At this point, you can view and print your application, and visit Pay.gov to pay the filing and site visit fees associated with SEVP certification. Payment is required by the date listed on the request for evidence (RFE) your school receives from SEVP. This RFE will be sent to your school within one week of SEVP receiving the Form I-17 petition in SEVIS. Please note that SEVP will not adjudicate any petition that is not accompanied by the electronic submission of all required supporting documents. 

 

After you complete your payment, Pay.gov will send an email receipt to the email address you provide to them. SEVP will receive your payment from Pay.gov; however, it is your responsibility to send SEVP the receipt you receive to prove payment. Please note, SEVP and Pay.gov are separate entities. Therefore, Pay.gov will send communications to the contact information you provide during payment, while any correspondence SEVP has with you and your school is done through the contact information you provided in SEVIS. 

 

Have questions about paying your SEVP fees online? Email the SEVP Response Center at sevp@ice.dhs.gov.