[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 54 (Tuesday, March 22, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14477-14479]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-5585]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Office of the Secretary

[DHS-2004-0015]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Directorate 
for Border and Transportation Security, Department of Homeland 
Security.

ACTION: Notice of Privacy Act systems of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Bureau of 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a component agency within the 
Directorate for Border and Transportation Security of the Department of 
Homeland Security is giving notice that it proposes to add a new system 
of records to the Department's inventory of record systems. The system 
of records is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 21, 2005.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by Docket Number DHS-
2004-0015, by one of the following methods:
     EPA Federal Partner EDOCKET Web Site: http://www.epa.gov/feddocket. Follow instructions for submitting comments on the web site.
     Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. 
Follow the instructions for submitting comments.
     Fax: (202) 772-5036 (This is not a toll-free number).
     Mail: Nuala O'Connor Kelly, Chief Privacy Officer, 
Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528; Susan Geary, 
SEVIS Program Manager, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 800 K 
Street, NW., Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20536.
     Hand Delivery/Courier: Nuala O'Connor Kelly, Chief Privacy 
Officer, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this notice. All comments received will be posted 
without change to http://www.epa.gov/feddocket, including any personal 
information provided. For detailed instructions on submitting comments 
and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the ``Public 
Participation'' heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 
this document.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to http://www.epa.gov/feddocket. You may also 
access the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nuala O'Connor Kelly, Chief Privacy 
Officer, Department of Homeland Security, Washington, DC 20528; Student 
and Exchange Visitor Information System Program Manager, 800 K Street, 
NW., Suite 1000, Washington DC 20536 by telephone (202) 305-2346 or by 
facsimile (202) 353-3723.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to Section 641 of the Illegal 
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Public Law 
104-208, 110 Stat. 3009, as amended, and other statutes, Congress has 
mandated that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in 
consultation with the Departments of State (DoS) and Education, develop 
a national system to collect and maintain pertinent information on 
nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors, and the schools and 
exchange visitor program sponsors that host these individuals in the 
United States. In accordance with that mandate, the predecessor to the 
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a component agency 
within the Directorate for Border and Transportation Security of DHS, 
developed the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). 
SEVIS is an Internet-based system that allows DHS to collect, maintain 
and use biographical information relating to students and exchange 
visitors and the approved schools and designated exchange visitor 
program sponsors that host nonimmigrant (F&M) students and (J) exchange 
visitors.
    In order to maintain these records, ICE proposes to establish a 
system of records under the Privacy Act, 5 U.S.C. 552a, DHS/ICE-001. 
The Privacy Act embodies fair information principles in a statutory 
framework governing the means by which the United States Government 
collects, maintains, uses and disseminates personally identifiable 
information. The Privacy Act requires each agency to publish in the 
Federal

[[Page 14478]]

Register a description denoting the type and character of each system 
of records that the agency maintains, and the routine uses that are 
contained in each system in order to make agency recordkeeping 
practices transparent, to notify individuals regarding the uses to 
which personally identifiable information is put, and to assist the 
individual to more easily find such files within the Agency.
    DHS/ICE is here publishing the description of a new system of 
records governing the information collected and maintained in SEVIS.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552a(r), a report of this new system of 
records has been provided to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
and to the Congress.
DHS/ICE 001

SYSTEM NAME:
    Department of Homeland Security (DHS), United States Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Student and Exchange Visitor Information 
System (SEVIS).

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    SEVIS is an electronic system. The hardware for the system is 
physically housed in a government-secured facility located in 
Rockville, Maryland and at a contingency site. The system is accessible 
via Internet or Intranet by DHS offices at Headquarters, Regional and 
District offices, Service Centers, sub-offices, Ports-of-Entry and 
foreign offices. The system is also accessible via Internet by 
designated school officials and responsible officers of exchange 
visitor programs that input information on students and exchange 
visitors into the system. Additionally, the system is accessed directly 
by DHS approved elements of Department of State (DoS) and by the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    SEVIS contains information on nonimmigrants who have applied for 
and been granted F-1, M-1 and J-1 visas to enter the United States as 
students or exchange visitors and their dependents who have been 
granted F-2, M-2, and J-2 visas.\1\ Some of the individuals whose 
information is contained in SEVIS may become United States citizens or 
legal permanent residents. SEVIS also contains records relating to the 
certified schools, designated sponsors, as well as individual hosts of 
students and exchange visitors in the United States.
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    \1\ F nonimmigrants are foreign students pursuing a full course 
of study in a college, university, seminary, conservatory, academic 
high school, private elementary school, other academic institution, 
or language training program in the United States that has been 
approved to enroll foreign students. J nonimmigrants are foreign 
nationals who have been selected by a sponsor designated by the DoS 
to participate in an exchange visitor program in the United States. 
M nonimmigrants are foreign students who are pursuing a full course 
of study in a vocational school or other recognized nonacademic 
institution in the United States that has been certified to enroll 
foreign students.
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CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    SEVIS contains biographical information relating to students and 
exchange visitors including name, date and place of birth, country of 
citizenship, current address where the student/exchange visitor and his 
or her dependents physically reside, current academic status, date of 
commencement of studies, degree program and field of study, whether the 
student has been certified for practical training, and the beginning 
and end dates of certification, termination date and reason, number of 
credits (if known) completed each semester, and information from the 
Certificate of Eligibility, Forms I-20 or DS-2019. SEVIS also maintains 
records on the DHS certified schools and DoS designated sponsors in the 
United States that host F, M and J nonimmigrants, which includes 
certified school/designated sponsor name, status, address, course of 
study or program costs, Designated School Official/Responsible Officer 
contact information, and programs and/or courses of study. Certified 
schools are those public/private educational institutions that have 
been approved by DHS to accept nonimmigrant F and M visa category 
students. Designated sponsors are those government and non-government 
organizations/agencies/institutions that have been designated by DoS to 
administer one or more J visa category nonimmigrant exchange visitor 
programs.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Public Law 107-173, Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform 
Act of 2002; Public Law, 107-56, USA PATRIOT Act; Public Law 104-208, 
Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) of 
1996; the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), as amended; 8 CFR part 
214 and 22 CFR part 514.

PURPOSE (S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    SEVIS is a system of records tracking F, M and J nonimmigrants and 
their dependents during their stay in the United States. It enables the 
Secretary of Homeland Security to monitor the progress and status of 
lawfully admitted F, M, and J visa category nonimmigrants residing in 
the United States, and to analyze all the information gathered for 
purposes of homeland security, law enforcement, immigration control and 
other mission-related functions.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND THE PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C. 
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or 
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside DHS as a 
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
    A. To appropriate Federal, State, local, foreign, international or 
tribal government agencies or organizations that are lawfully engaged 
in collecting law enforcement intelligence information (whether civil 
or criminal) and/or charged with investigating, prosecuting, enforcing 
or implementing civil and/or criminal laws, related rules, regulations 
or orders, to enable these entities to carry out their law enforcement 
responsibilities.
    B. To an attorney or representative who is acting on behalf of an 
individual covered by this system of records for use in any proceeding 
before the Executive Office for Immigration Review.
    C. To a Congressional office from the record of an individual in 
response to an inquiry from that Congressional office made at the 
request of the individual to whom the record pertains.
    D. To the National Archives and Records Administration or other 
federal government agencies pursuant to records management inspections 
being conducted under the authority of 44 U.S.C. Sections 2904 and 
2906.
    E. To the Department of Justice or other federal agency conducting 
litigation or in proceedings before any court, adjudicative or 
administrative body, when: (a) DHS, or (b) any employee of DHS in his/
her official capacity, or (c) any employee of DHS in his/her individual 
capacity where DOJ or DHS has agreed to represent the employee, or (d) 
the United States or any agency thereof, is a party to the litigation 
or has an interest in such litigation.
    F. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, volunteers, and 
others performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative 
agreement, or other assignment for the Federal government, when 
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to this system of 
records.

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    G. To a former employee of the Department for purposes of: 
responding to an official inquiry by a federal, state, or local 
government entity or professional licensing authority, in accordance 
with applicable Department regulations; or facilitating communications 
with a former employee that may be necessary for personnel-related or 
other official purposes where the Department requires information and/
or consultation assistance from the former employee regarding a matter 
within that person's former area of responsibility.
    H. To an agency, organization, or individual for the purposes of 
performing authorized audit or oversight operations.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, 
AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
STORAGE:
    The information in the system is maintained in an automated 
database in electronic format. A record, or any part thereof, may be 
printed and stored in the applicant's alien file (A-file.) \2\
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    \2\ The system notice for the A-file is JUSTICE/INS-001A, last 
published in the Federal Register on September 7, 2001 (66 FR 
46812).
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RETRIEVABILITY:
    DHS indexes and will retrieve SEVIS records by a number of data 
elements relating to the students and exchange visitors contained in 
the system including the name, unique SEVIS identification number 
assigned to the subject, and date of birth. Records on DHS certified 
schools and DoS designated sponsors can be retrieved by similar data 
elements relating to the respective institution or organization.

SAFEGUARDS:
    Information in this system is safeguarded in accordance with 
applicable laws, rules, and policies. All records are protected from 
unauthorized access through appropriate administrative, physical, and 
technical safeguards. These safeguards include restricting access to 
authorized personnel who have a need-to-know, using locks, and password 
protection identification features. The system is also protected 
through a multi-layer security approach. The protective strategies are 
physical, technical, administrative and environmental in nature and 
provide access control to sensitive data, physical access control to 
DHS facilities, confidentiality of communications, authentication of 
sending parties, and personnel screening to ensure that all personnel 
with access to data are screened through background investigations 
commensurate with the level of access required to perform their duties. 
SEVIS was specifically designed to be accessed by non-government users 
(certified schools and designated sponsors) so they could create the 
records and populate the database. Specific safeguards have been put in 
place to ensure the integrity of the school certification, sponsor 
designation, and ID/password issuance/access processes.

RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
    The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) approved a 
retention schedule for SEVIS records, N1-563-04-1, on February 11, 
2004. Under this retention schedule, four types of data files are 
retained for SEVIS: (1) Batch data temporary files (containing student 
records) are retained for a period not to exceed one year. These files 
are held temporarily on a server within the DoJ data center; (2) 
student/ exchange visitor data files residing in SEVIS are backed-up 
daily and retained/archived for 75 years; (3) certified school and 
designated sponsor data files residing in SEVIS proper are backed-up 
daily and retained/archived for 75 years; and (4) beta test files are 
retained for 60 days on-line. For historical purposes, and because 
specific immigration law enforcement or benefit case file research can 
span decades, DHS/ICE maintains SEVIS records in accordance with the 
above disposition schedule for their entire 75-year retention period. 
If the data becomes too large it will be copied onto electronic media 
and stored at the DOJ Data Center in Rockville, MD or Dallas, TX. At 
the end of the retention period, files are electronically expunged from 
fileservers and Compact Disks (CDs) through degaussing, a method of 
erasing magnetic media and the removal of remnants of previously 
recorded signals.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
    SEVIS Program Manager, Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), 
800 K Street, NW., Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20536.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    To determine whether this system contains records relating to you, 
write to the System Manager identified above.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Requests for access must be in writing and should be addressed to 
the System Manager above, the ICE FOIA office, or DHS Privacy Office. 
Requests should conform to the requirements of 6 CFR part 5, Subpart B, 
which provides the rules for requesting access to Privacy Act records 
maintained by DHS. The envelope and letter should be clearly marked 
''Privacy Act Access Request.'' The request should include a general 
description of the records sought and must include the requester's full 
name, current address, and date and place of birth. The request must be 
signed and either notarized or submitted under penalty of perjury. Some 
information may be exempt from access provisions as described in the 
section entitled ``Systems Exempted from Certain Provisions of the 
Act.'' An individual who is the subject of a record in this system may 
access those records that are not exempt from disclosure. A 
determination whether a record may be accessed will be made at the time 
a request is received.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    Same as ``Notification Procedures'' and ``Record Access 
Procedures,'' above.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Information in this system is obtained from DHS certified schools 
and DOS designated exchange visitor program sponsors, which provide 
information on their nonimmigrant students and exchange visitors. The 
certified schools and designated sponsors collect the required 
information from individual applicants and enter that data into SEVIS. 
Additional information is collected on nonimmigrant students and 
exchange visitors when they enter or exit the United States. This 
information is provided to SEVIS via system interfaces. Throughout the 
individual's stay in the United States, Designated School Officials 
(DSOs) and Responsible Officials (ROs) at the certified schools and 
designated sponsors are required to update SEVIS with current 
information on the F, M, and J nonimmigrants.

EXEMPTIONS CLAIMED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    Certain portions or all of these records may be exempt from 
disclosure pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(k)(2).

    Dated: March 15, 2005.
Nuala O'Connor Kelly,
Chief Privacy Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-5585 Filed 3-21-05; 8:45 am]
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