Do you know who makes the adjudication decisions for your school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, recertification and updates to the Form I-17, "Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Student?"

It is one of the 14 federal adjudicators who work in SEVP's School Certification Unit (SCU). SCU manages the SEVP School Certification Life Cycle and is behind SEVP’s plan to reduce the processing times for some Form-17 updates.

In an effort to provide greater transparency and promote better understanding within the academic community about the SEVP certification process, SCU was featured in the December 2015 SEVP Spotlight.

Every month, SCU receives hundreds of requests from schools; the Spotlight article outlines how this workload breaks down and what happens after a school submits a request. The article also explains that while the unit has contractors who provide support and work to ensure schools are compliant, only federal employees can make decisions about SEVP certification, recertification and petition updates.

Read the latest edition of SEVP Spotlight to learn how SEVP adjudication decisions are made and share it with fellow school officials on social media using the hashtag #StudyintheStates

If your school has questions about its initial certification, recertification or updates to the Form I‑17, send an email to schoolcert.sevis@dhs.gov.