SEVIS Release 6.23 Planning Guide

This planning guide is intended to help SEVIS users prepare for SEVIS Release 6.23.

Scheduled release date: December 6, 2015

Functionality in the Release

Functionality	Affects F/M SEVIS	Affects J SEVIS	Affects Batch
Redesigned log in page	Yes	Yes	No
OPT Authorization	Yes	No	Yes
Add, Edit Delete OPT Employer	Yes	No	Yes
Improved Employment Information Page	Yes	No	No
F/M Student Telephone	Yes	No	Yes
F/M Student Email	Yes	No	Yes
Improved Event History	Yes	Yes	No
Changed look of Student Information block on SEVIS pages	Yes	No	No
Annual Verification of School/Sponsor Officials	Yes	Yes	No
Update Shorten Program for Exchange Visitors	No	Yes	Yes
Bar code no longer prints on Form DS-2019	No	Yes	No
Form I-20 Changes	Yes	No	No
Government User Profile	No	No	Yes

Release Resources

Demonstration: Add, Edit, Cancel OPT Authorization
Demonstration: Add, Edit, or Delete OPT Employer
Demonstration: Understanding the Employment Information Page
Fact Sheet: Changes to Form I-20
User Guide: View Employment Information
Job Aid: F/M Student Telephone and Email Address (Resource outdated)
User Guide: Student Event History
User Guide: F-1 Optional Practical Training
User Guide: F-1 Add, Edit, Delete OPT Employer
User Guide: M-1 Practical Training
V iew Employment Information
User Guide: Government User Profile
Webinar Recording: October 2, 2015 OPT Webinar
FAQ October 2, 2015 OPT Webinar
Webinar Recording: November 6, 2015 SEVIS 6.23 Pre-Release Webinar

System Unavailability

Outage Begins	Outage Scheduled to End
12:00 AM ET Sunday December 6, 2015	8:00 AM ET Monday December 7, 2015

Currently, SEVP expects the outage to last roughly 32 hours.

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
12:00 AM ET December 6, 2015 to 8:00 AM ET Monday December 7, 2015	SEVIS is unavailable for batch uploads.

No warnings issued at this time

Systems Affected by SEVIS Outages

SEVP hopes to minimize the effect of the outage by deploying the release over a weekend. However, SEVIS data is used by many systems all over the world. The following processes and systems are affected when SEVIS is not available:

System	During the Outage
I-901 (SEVIS) Fee	I-901 system cannot process payments. Students and Exchange visitors must either pay ahead of time or wait until SEVIS is online again.
Social Security Numbers (SSN)	Social Security cannot 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	SAVE agents cannot 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	SAVE agents cannot 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	Consular officers at U.S. embassies and consulates can view SEVIS data in their own system. It might not be up-to-date. Some visa applications may be delayed until the data feed from SEVIS is restored.
Ports of Entry	Customs and Border Protection officers can verify admissibility using stale data. Anyone seeking F, M, or J status may be sent to secondary inspection for processing. Officers in secondary inspection cannot access SEVIS to verify F, J, or M nonimmigrants’ SEVIS status.
State Departments of Motor Vehicles	DMV agents cannot 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.