The US Immigration and Natural-ization Service has launched the Internet Web site that the nation's universities will soon use to register foreign students -- the first step in the government's plan to track the movements of all those with temporary visas, according to INS officials.
Schools that have received INS permission to accept foreign students for three years can begin using the Web site system immediately, the agency announced Tuesday.
Other schools will have to go through an extended review period to gain approval to use the system, called "SEVIS." The system becomes mandatory Jan. 30. On that date, schools not approved to use the Web site will not be allowed to admit foreign students.
The approval process will force schools to prove they have the programs and policies in place to provide the education that a foreign student has applied to receive.
The Web site, which requires a user name and password, is aimed at making sure foreign students take the courses they were approved to take and attend the schools they told the government they would attend.
"We are going to make sure that those who enter our country to attend a college, actually do what they have agreed to do," said Terrance O'Reilly, commissioner of the INS's field service operations department. "This is about guaranteeing that our foreign students live up to their bargain and don't head off to places unknown."
The Web site is also intended to close many loopholes that have led to the government losing track of foreign students. In past years, thousands of foreign students that were accepted to more than one American college switched colleges once they arrived. Others have simply disappeared while in the US.
When the Web site becomes mandatory, colleges and universities will have to report when a student arrives at the school, and all other universities that sent a letter of acceptance to the student are notified of the student's plan.
If the student never shows up or disappears from a college, the INS plans to track the student down with law enforcement agents.
O'Reilly acknowledged the enforcement arm for the new system will evolve as it becomes clear how many agents are necessary to track down students.
It has not been decided whether foreign students would be treated as criminals if they are found to have abused the system.
Schools also must report through the Web site whether foreign students are making any shifts in their field of study. If a student begins taking courses in subjects that might provide useful information to terrorists -- such as chemistry or nuclear physics -- INS officials might also make inquiries.
Education trade groups and members of the education community have supported the program.
"We think SEVIS is the single best thing that the government can do to monitor foreign students," said Terry Hartle, a vice president of the American Council on Education.
"It will not require the collection of information than colleges and universities currently collect. But all that information was on paper and there was no possible way to get it to INS in bulk," Hartle said.
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