NIU is one of several universities across the country required to enlist individuals from foreign countries in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a Web base application of a nationwide database.

About 770 NIU students are in the process of being enlisted in a nationwide database.

For Deborah Pierce, international programs executive director, that means contacting each student with J- and F-status at NIU who falls under SEVIS.

F-status are students and their dependents and J-status are exchange visitors, which include doctoral students and faculty, and their dependents.

Pierce has been working since August to get individuals with the status into SEVIS, which is handled by the Bureau of Immigration and Costume Enforcement in the Department of Homeland Security.

J- and F-status individuals are required to request new status immigration documents so they can be enlisted in the database. F-status individuals must fill out the I-20 form and J-status individuals must fill out the DS-2019 form. Individuals can apply for these forms at the graduate school office or at the international programs office.

Pierce wants everyone to understand why it is crucial to apply for the immigration documents immediately.

She will hold a seminar at 3 p.m. today in the Lincoln Room of the Holmes Student Center to present updated information on the immigration regulations.

The repercussions for not applying for these immigration documents include losing one’s J- or F-status, as well as losing benefits such as internship opportunities and work opportunities offered at NIU that are available to non-immigrants.

NIU complied with the first SEVIS deadline, Jan. 30, early and was enrolled in SEVIS by Sept. 17, 2002, which saved NIU a lot of time because schools that waited had serious problems, Pierce said.

“International students and scholars have always been closely regulated but the government increased this regulation in the wake of the terrorist attacks,” she said.

International students represent 1.8 percent of all visa holders in the United States, Pierce said.

There always has been advisers whose roles were to assist international students in meeting the requirements of their status.

“Now our job includes a lot more regulations and the nationwide database,” Pierce said.

Now that Mark Thackaberry, the former director of the International Student and Faculty Office, has retired and there is a continuing search to fill his position, Pierce is left along with the graduate office to advise and compile the information of the 770 individuals with J- and F-status.

Pierce spends a lot of time in her office filling out the database. Along with the understaffing, she has to deal with the technical problems of computer crashes and application errors. The database doesn’t have the capacity to handle all of the users nationwide, so Pierce has to find off-peak hours to enter data.

Another obstacle in compiling information is slightly more than half of the students being entered into SEVIS plan on leaving the country after the semester and will return after the deadline.

Today’s workshop is offered by the International Student and Faculty Office and the Graduate School also will provide information on new financial documents.