Policy guidance affecting provisional admission of students and the issuing of I-20s

In July 2016 the Department of Homeland Security Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) issued new policy guidance affecting provisional admission of students and the issuing of I-20s. The guidance limits a university’s flexibility in offering provisional admission to international students.

Here are the implications of this guidance for your practice in admitting international students.

• If students are admitted on a provisional basis because of language proficiency requirements, they can be issued an I-20 for language studies only.
• This I-20 is limited to a maximum of 2 years.
• The student would need to be tested at the English Language Center upon arrival and begin studying in the English level determined by that test.
• Once the student meets the departmental requirements for language, the student may be issued a degree-seeking I-20.
• If the student has not met the stated language proficiency requirement for department/program admission at the end of two years, the student cannot continue to enroll for courses.

Provisional admission can be granted ONLY for language deficiencies.  Regulations will not allow the issuing of an I-20 for provisional admissions for academic reasons.

Once the guidance was received, the Office of International Students and Scholars (OISS), the Office of Admissions and the Graduate School have worked together to develop a process for identifying students with language training I-20s in our systems and ensuring that departments and students are aware of the 2-year timeline.

Departments should advice international students who are provisionally admitted the following:

• Students will initially receive an I-20 with an Education Level of Language Training
• Students will not be able to enroll after 2 years unless they demonstrate proficiency as defined in the department/program admissions standards.
• The holds will appear in GAMs (like the CDCGC holds) and departments/programs will be able to generate reports of students whose holds have not yet been removed.
• When departments/programs can certify that students have met the requirement, they will contact Admissions to initiate the lifting of the hold which will initiate a new I-20 for the degree seeking program.
• Once the hold is lifted, students who do not receive a degree seeking I-20 within 14 days should contact OISS.