New round-the-clock command center to help foreign students entry
By VASANTHA ARORA

The U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hasd a round-the-clock command center to help ease the entry of foreign students arriving in the United States for a new academic term.

A new data-sharing system is being implemented, requiring educational institutions to electronically provide information to ICE about the students they have accepted and enrolled in the new semester.

Called the Student Exchange Visitor and Information System (SEVIS), it will be the primary data source immigration officers will rely upon at ports of entry to determine whether a foreign student is eligible to enter the country, said an ICE press release.

It added that more than 5,900 educational institutions had gone online with SEVIS, but more than 600 U.S. schools have not done so. There is concern in the academic community that students entering non-compliant schools could encounter difficulty entering the country.

ICE hasd the command center to help deal with such problems. The agency has sent guidance to ports of entry providing specific instructions on how to deal with a variety of situations that could arise with foreign students. ICE will also be prepared to provide information technology assistance to educational institutions having technical problems with the complex data-sharing system.

In the last academic year, the highest number of 66,836 students among foreigners studying in the U.S. were from India, representing 12 percent of the total number of international students. Foreign students bring in nearly $12 billion into the U.S. economy, according to a study which adds that most of this funding comes from private sources.