Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has implemented the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) to collect and record key data on foreign students, exchange visitors, and their dependents--prior to their entering the United States, upon their entry, and during their stay. In accordance with Conference Report 108-280, GAO reviewed SEVIS. Among the areas it examined were (1) system performance, (2) actions to improve performance, and (3) plans for collecting the fee to be paid by foreign students and exchange visitors to cover SEVIS costs.

Several indicators show that SEVIS performance is improving. First, program office reports for some key system performance requirements show that these requirements are being met. However, not all key performance requirements are being monitored or reported on. Without formally monitoring all key performance requirements, DHS cannot adequately assure itself that potential problems will be identified and addressed early. Second, other, less formal indicators of performance, such as daily system use by program officials and unsolicited user feedback, indicate that the system is meeting requirements. Third, GAO's analysis of new requests for system changes, including changes to address reported performance problems, shows these requests are declining. Finally, officials representing educational organizations generally see performance as having improved. DHS has taken specific actions to improve SEVIS performance. In particular, it has installed a series of new software releases and increased Help Desk staffing and training. In addition, program officials are holding regularly scheduled meetings, both internally and with educational representatives, and are asking user groups to test new releases. Despite these efforts, however, educational organizations continue to report problems, such as the quality of Help Desk assistance. DHS submitted its final rule on the SEVIS fee to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in February and plans to collect the fee once OMB approves it. Representatives of educational organizations are concerned that two of the three payment options in DHS's final rule are either not available to all students in developing countries or will result in significant delays. Program officials acknowledge the increased demands on students and visitors, but do not believe that these demands warrant changes to their plans.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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