Important OIE Updates & Information Request in SIO for Continuing Students
UPDATE AS OF JULY 14, 2020:
The Trump administration has rescinded the recent July 6 guidance and is reverting back to the March 9 guidance. We are working to determine the impact on students and will update this page in the coming days.
July 13, 2020
We hope that you, your family and your friends are staying well. Since our July 7 message to advise you of SEVP’s guidance for fall 2020, there have been a few developments.
Carnegie Mellon, along with other schools in the U.S., has requested additional clarification about the SEVP guidance and we are advocating for the best possible outcome for all international students. CMU also filed an amicus brief with the court in support of the Harvard/MIT lawsuit and, along with other schools that have large international student populations, we outreached to SEVP to request an extension of the August 4 deadline to update and reissue I-20s, which would allow universities more time to collect required information to update SEVIS records.
One thing we want to clarify from our earlier communication, if the August 4 requirement stays in effect, OIE will comply with all government requirements to update new I-20s by the required deadline. While we will update SEVIS by the deadline, we may not be able to electronically distribute thousands of I-20s by August 4 due to the time required. Any potential delay in distribution, however, will not negatively impact a student’s status and we will have complied with the government’s new guidance.
ACTION NEEDED – Starting Monday, July 13
While we wait for news about changes to SEVP’s guidance, we are requesting that two quick data points be completed in Student Information Online (SIO) to help with planning efforts for reissuing I-20s and for course scheduling. Effective today (July 13), when you log in to SIO, a banner will appear at the top of your pages that will prompt you to share information about the following:
- Your Current Location in July 2020
- Your Planned Location for fall 2020
Note that the banner in SIO is a new feature and will appear whenever there are additional questions requiring your response.
We know that some of you may not yet be sure of your fall plans, but sharing your location will be critical in helping OIE to comply with SEVP’s guidance. In early August, you will be able to update your answer regarding your fall plans as your circumstances change. The SIO questions should be answered to the best of your ability by July 20.
We encourage you to continue reviewing information on the OIE website, in particular, our homepage, the Foreign Student section and the MyOIE page. In the days and weeks ahead, we also strongly recommend that you regularly check your CMU email account for any potential updates from the university and OIE about the upcoming fall semester.
Again, we recognize that there may be challenges ahead, but OIE is here to help you navigate through them. Please reach out to us at oie@andrew.cmu.edu with any immediate questions or concerns.