[Federal Register: March 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 54)]
[Notices]
[Page 14477-14479]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22mr05-58]
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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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