Mass Registration

Last updated: October 19, 2023

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Overview
Process Mass Registration
Retrieve Registration Report from SEVIS Downloads Page

In this document:

School session refers to school terms, semesters, and/or school sessions.
Designated School Official (DSO) refers to both Principal School Official (PDSO) and DSO, unless otherwise noted.

DSOs must determine if every active F-1 and M-1 student still pursuing an academic or vocational program is eligible for registration. SEVIS registration must be completed on all appropriate SEVIS records within 30 days of the start of each session.

Relevant Federal Regulations

Before taking action on a student’s record, DSOs must understand the federal regulatory, full course of study requirements for their type of school.

SEVP Policy Guidance for Adjudicators 1408-01: Academic Year

SEVIS Reporting Requirements for Designated School Officials (ICE.gov)
F-1 full course of study – 8 CFR 214.2(f)(a)(6)
M-1 full course of study – 8 CFR 214.2(m)(9)(i-vi)
SEVIS Recordkeeping and reporting requirements – 8 CFR 214.3(g)

DSOs must not register Initial students in SEVIS before the student:

Has been admitted into the Unites States in F-1 or M-1 status, as appropriate.
Has enrolled in a full course of study at the school.
Provides the DSO their current U.S. residence address.

To avoid correction requests due to a change in student information or circumstances, DSOs should not register Initial students in SEVIS more than 30 days before their program start date.

DSOs can register students in the real-time interface (RTI) two ways:

Individual records with the registration function.
Up to 1000 records simultaneously with the mass registration function.

See the SEVIS Help Hub topic on SEVIS Registration for detailed information on registering individual students.

Mass Registration allows DSOs to register multiple students in a similar category at one time. Mass Registration is a three-step process. The first step is a search for groups of students with similar attributes; the second is to select students to register from the search results; and then, the third is to register these students. The fields for searching and mass registering are described in the Mass Action: Registration – Records Search and Mass Action: Registration tables below.

Mass Action: Registration – Records Search Terminology

The Mass Action: Registration Records Search fields provides searching capabilities to find students to register with similar characteristics, for example, Current Session End Date, Next Session Start Date, or any indicators for being in the last session of study. The Records Search fields also allows sorting of records for easier use. The search and sort options include:

Field	Description
Include section:
Class of Admission*	Searches for the students’ nonimmigrant status. Must select either F-1 or M-1. This is a required field.
Level of Study	Searches for the students’ level of study: Primary Secondary Associate Bachelor’s Master’s Doctorate Language Training Other Can chose one or leave field blank.
Session Start Date From*	Searches for the date the students' next session will begin. If the Session Start Date To field is not completed, the search results will only display records with a Next Session Start Date of the date entered in the Session Start Date From field. If the Session Start Date To field is completed, the search results will range from date in the Session Start Date From field to the date in the Session Start Date To field. This is a required field.
Session Start Date To	If entered, this will be the end date in the range of the Session Start Dates being searched.
Program End Date From	Searches for the date the program will end. If Program End Date To field is not completed, the search results will only display records with a Program End Date of the date entered in the Program End Date From field. If Program End Date To field is completed, the search results will range from date in the Program End Date From field to the date in the Program End Date To field.
Program End Date To	If entered, this will be the end date in the range of the Program End Dates being searched.
Refine section:
Surname/Primary Name First Letter Range	Sorts by the first letter of students’ Surname/Primary Name. If selected, the search results will display a list of records with surnames that appear between the two letters. Must choose a starting letter and an ending letter.
CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) Code Family	Sorts by the first two digits of the students’ field of study CIP code; for example, 14 is the CIP code family for all programs that fall under the Engineering category. If selected, the search results will display a list of records with CIP Codes for Major 1 and Major 2, which fall under that CIP code family.
Sort By	Sorts search results by an option: Surname/Primary Name Given Name Education Level Major 1 Major 2 Program End Date Session Start Date
Ascending or Descending	Sorts search results in either: Ascending order. Descending order.

Mass Action: Registration Terminology

The Mass Action: Registration function creates and labels the registration event, based on the student records chosen from the records search results. The mass registration options include:

Field	Description
Records Selected	SEVIS enters the number of student records selected for registration.
Results Report Name*	Name given to the Mass Action Report. Limited to 50 characters. This is a required field.
Current Sesstion Start Date*	Start date of the session being registered. This is a required field.
Current Session End Date*	End date of the session being registered. This is a required field.
Next Session Start Date*	Start date of the next (following) session. This is a required field.
The student is in the last session of his/her program	Check this box if students are being registered, who are in the last session of the program. Note: If checked, all students in the mass registration action will have that notation.
Study/Research Abroad	Check this box if students are being registered, who are studying or conducting research outside of the United States. Note: If checked, all students in the mass registration action will have that notation.
Thesis/Dissertation	Check this box if students are being registered, who are working on a thesis or dissertation. Note: If checked, all students in the mass registration action will have that notation.
Remarks about the Student	Enter any remarks about the students being registered. Limited to 300 characters. Note: Any remarks entered will appear in the student remarks for all students.

Mass Registration is only available for SEVIS records:

In Initial or Active status.
That have paid the I-901 SEVIS Fee.
With a U.S. Physical Address (required for both Initial and Active records).
With email and telephone information:
- Except for K-12, F-1 students or M-1 students under the age of 14.
- Required only for active records.

There is a 1000-student record limit for each mass registration job.

To process a mass registration:

1. Go to the Listing of Schools page; and choose the school and campus with the records you wish to register.

2. Click Mass Actions to open the SEVIS Mass Actions page.

3. Click Registration. The Mass Action: Registration – Records Search page opens.

Screenshot of the Mass Registration Records Search screen

4. Use the Include fields to define search criteria:

Selection of the following fields is required:

Class of Admission
Session Start Date From

Click either the F-1 or M-1 radio button to choose the students’ Class of Admission.
Enter the Session Start Date in the Session Start Date From field.

The following fields are optional but help narrow search results:

Click the Level of Study drop-down arrow to select the educational level.
Create a Session Start Date range by completing the Session Start Date To field.
Enter a Program End Date or create a range by completing the Program End Date From and Program End Date To fields.

5. Define sort criteria by using the Refine By fields:

Click the Surname/Primary Name First Letter Range drop-down arrows. Select an alphabetic range of records between two letters.
Click the CIP Code Family drop-down arrow. Select the educational field.
Click the Sort By drop-down arrow to choose a category for sorting.
Select a radio button to sort in Ascending or Descending order

6. Click Search. The Mass Action: Registration – Selected Records page displays.

The Search Criteria section, displayed in the red box, lists which Records Search fields were used to search.
Opening a student record from the returned search list, Mass Action: Registration -- Selected Records, prevents the mass registration from working. Do not open any records directly from this returned search list.

7. Sort the results by:

Clicking arrow in Show ## entries field to select number of records that will appear on the Mass Action: Registration – Selected Records page. Choices include 10, 20, 50, 100, or All records.
Clicking up or down arrow on a column heading to select Ascending or Descending order by category. Category options include:
- SEVIS ID
- Surname/Primary Name
- Given Name
- Status
- Major 1
- Major 2
- Education Level
- Program End Date
- Session Start Date

See the SEVIS Help Hub topic on Create Initial Form I-20 for detailed information on the student records fields.

8. Select records to mass register by either:

Clicking on each record.

Note: Clicking on a selected record, deselects that record.

Clicking Select all.

Note: Clicking Deselect all deselects any selected records.

Selected records will be highlighted. (See Araya, Lee, and Parker in the Mass Action: Registration – Selected Records page image above.)

9. Click Submit Selections. The Mass Action: Registration modal displays.

10. To create the mass registration action, complete the following:

All program and session dates entered in SEVIS must correspond to your school’s academic calendar.
Completion of the following is required:
- Results Report Name (50-character limit)
- Current Session Start Date
- Current Session End Date
- Next Session Start Date

The length of the session is automatically calculated. It may not exceed 183 days without DSO confirmation by clicking the box.

The length of the break in between sessions is automatically calculated. It may not exceed 152 days without DSO confirmation by clicking the box.

Click the appropriate boxes for this group of students:
- The student is in the last session of his/her program.
- Study/Research Abroad
- Thesis/Dissertation
Enter any Remarks about the students being registered. Comments entered will appear on each record included in this mass registration.

11. Click Submit. A confirmation message appears stating the number of records submitted for registration.

12. Click OK to confirm and submit the registration. The SEVIS Downloads page displays.

Always check the Mass Registration report from the SEVIS Downloads page to confirm successful and/or failed record registrations. SEVIS will deny Mass Registration actions requesting a session longer than 183 days.

All mass registrations appear in a report on the SEVIS Downloads page.

Mass registration reports will remain on the SEVIS Downloads page for 120 days from the date of the mass registration action.

For more information about SEVIS Downloads see Retrieve SEVIS Downloads and Mass Reprints on the SEVIS Help Hub.

To retrieve the list of students registered:

1. Go to the SEVIS Downloads page.

Large mass registration jobs may appear in two lines in the SEVIS Downloads table.

The two Mass Registration job lines are distinguished by the same title but with a Part 1 and Part 2.

2. Find the correct mass registration action under the Title column; and click either CSV (comma-separated values) or Excel in the File Type column to request the correct format for the list.

3. Choose to Open, Save or Cancel the file.

4. The Excel file displays the following fields:

Type of Action
Search Criteria
Number of records selected
Number of records successfully updated
Number of records that failed to process successful
Current Session Start Date
Current Session End Date
Next Session Start Date
Who performed the update
Date/Time (EST) the update was submitted
Date/Time (EST) the update was completed
List of records submitted with following columns
- SEVIS ID
- Surname/Primary Name
- Given Name
- Date of Birth
- Update Status
- Error Reason

SEVIS Help Hub