SEVIS Release 6.21 Planning Guide

Last updated: April 7, 2020

This planning guide is intended to help schools and sponsors prepare for SEVIS Release 6.21.

SEVIS Release 6.21 Scheduled Release Date: Friday, June 26, 2015

System Unavailability

Outage Begins	Outage Scheduled to End
8 PM (EST) Friday, June 26, 2015	8 PM (EST) Sunday, June 28, 2015

SEVP currently expects the outage to end Sunday evening. However, there is a possibility the outage may last longer. This is a large release.

Functionality	Affects F/M SEVIS	Affects J SEVIS	Affects Batch
SEVIS name standardization	yes	yes	yes
Validation of U.S. addresses	yes	yes	yes
Email address standards	yes	yes	yes
Revised Form I-20	yes	no	yes
Revised Form DS-2019	no	yes	yes
Mass reprint of Form I-20	yes	no	no
Mass reprint of Form DS-2019	no	yes	no
SEVIS Downloads page	yes	yes	no
Revised search functionality	yes	yes	no
Changed look and feel of SEVIS screens	yes	yes	no
Trainee/Internship Placement Plan (T/IPP)	no	yes	yes

Systems Affected by the Outage

SEVP hopes to minimize the effect of the outage by deploying the release over a weekend. However, SEVIS data is used by many systems worldwide. The following processes and systems will be affected:

Process/System	Effects
I-901 SEVIS Fee	The I-901 System will not be able to process the SEVIS fee payments. Students and Exchange Visitors must either pay ahead of time or wait until SEVIS is online again.
Social Security Numbers (SSN) (System SAVE)	Social Security Administration will not be able to confirm F, M, or J status for anyone. Those needing an SSN should either apply before the outage or wait until SEVIS is online again.
SAVE (Systems: ESB, PCQS)	SAVE Agents will not be able to verify the F, M, or J status for anyone. Verification requests should either be submitted before the outage or after SEVIS is online again.
E-verify (Systems: ESB, PCQS)	E-Verify will not be able to confirm the status of anyone in F, M, or J status. Employers should verify those employees before the outage or wait until SEVIS is online again.
Visa Applications (System: CCD)	Consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates can view SEVIS data in their own system. However, the data might not be up-to-date. Some visa applications may be delayed until the data feed from SEVIS is restored.
Ports of Entry (Systems: ADIS, PCQS)	Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers performing primary inspections can verify admissibility using information that is up-to-date. Anyone seeking F, M, or J status may be sent to secondary inspection for processing. CBP Officers in secondary inspection cannot access SEVIS to verify F, J, or M nonimmigrants’ SEVIS status.
State Departments of Motor Vehicles (DMV) (System: SAVE)	DMV Agents will not be able to use SAVE to verify the F, M, or J status of applicants for driver’s licenses or state IDs. Nonimmigrants needing a state driver’s licenses/ID card should either apply before the outage or wait until SEVIS is online again.

Batch Users

Schools and sponsors that use third-party software to push data to SEVIS must plan their batch uploads carefully.

Critical Date/Time	What Happens
NOON (EST) Friday, June 26, 2015	Deadline for schools/sponsors to upload batches to SEVIS
2:00 PM (EST) Friday, June 26, 2015	SEVIS will process uploaded batches
3:00 – 7:30 PM (EST) Friday, June 26, 2015	Transaction logs and PDFs of forms available for download

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