The deadline for principal designated school officials (PDSOs) to complete their annual Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) verification is one month from today, on March 2, 2018. As of Jan. 31, 2018, 76 percent of schools have completed the process.

If PDSOs do not complete annual verification by the March 2 deadline, every school official at every campus associated with their Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP)-certified school or program will be locked out of the system on March 3 and will remain so until the verification process is complete.

This means designated school officials (DSOs) will lose all access to the system and the PDSO’s access will be limited to the SEVIS verification function. Additionally, after March 2, all unverified SEVP-certified schools will be officially out of compliance with federal record keeping and recording regulations, which jeopardizes their certification status. 

The annual verification process is complete when a PDSO verifies that all school officials at their SEVP-certified school or program need continued access to SEVIS. This ensures compliance with the Federal Information System Management Act, which requires an annual verification and review for all users who access federal systems.

For more information about the annual verification process, check out the guide to PDSO/DSO annual verification and the demonstration of the annual verification function on the SEVIS Help Hub. You may also direct specific questions about SEVIS verification of PDSOs and DSOs to SEVISTechnicalFeedback@ice.dhs.gov.