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Upload Evidence for the Form I-17 Starting Jan. 8, 2018


December 14, 2017

Beginning Jan. 8, 2018, principal designated school officials (PDSOs) can deliver their Form I-17, “Petition for Approval of School for Attendance by Nonimmigrant Student,” evidence directly to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) using the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System’s (SEVIS) upload evidence functionality.

Schools must submit evidence at the time they submit their Form I-17 request in SEVIS and will use the upload functionality for:

  • Evidence needed for filing an initial petition.
  • Evidence needed for updates to an existing petition.
  • Evidence needed for filing for recertification.

PDSOs will access the Upload Evidence: Form I-17 page in SEVIS after entering or editing their petition and clicking the “continue” button. SEVP recommends that schools familiarize themselves with the evidentiary requirements before logging in to SEVIS to submit petitions or petition updates. Once the functionality is live, PDSOs will find step-by-step instructions for uploading evidence, along with information regarding required supporting documentation for the Form I-17 on the SEVIS Help Hub. To help prepare for the transition, PDSO should understand the parameters for successfully uploading evidence in to SEVIS:

  • The file names for each document cannot exceed 60 characters.
  • The size of a single document cannot exceed 10 MB.
  • The documents cannot be encrypted or password protected.
  • The documents must be in one of the following file formats: .DOCX, .DOC, .PDF, .XLS, .XLSX, .JPG, .JPEG, .PNG, .GIF, .TXT, .CSV

After evidence is uploaded to SEVIS, it cannot be removed or deleted. A list of uploaded evidence will appear, but PDSOs will not be able to open the listed evidence. SEVP recommends PDSOs label and store copies of uploaded evidence in a safe location for future reference.

Please note that after March 8, 2018, SEVP will no longer accept evidence submitted via email and all evidence must be uploaded to SEVIS. For more information about this upcoming change, watch the Dec. 20, 2017, SEVIS Upload Evidence Webinar page.

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