Overview

In response to SEVP’s guidance for Fall 2020, issued in the summer of 2020, Terra Dotta created the Fall2020 SEVP Guidance Utility to allow for updating remarks in bulk. On August 27, 2020, Terra Dotta added functionality to this utility so that it also facilitates updating dates in mass to facilitate deferrals.  This article addresses the Remarks Update process.  Read more about using the utility to update update dates in mass.

Pre-Requisites

Before you get started on the report, there are some steps you will need to complete in order to effectively use the report

1. Create the appropriate queries to segment your student community

The utility is driven by queries, so you should think about how best to segment your student community for use on the report. For smaller offices, you may want it to be as simple one report for your students in an initial status and other for all your active students. Others may want to break up into cohorts segmented by department or class. Note: the query will need to pull from the AOP.

2. Share the queries out to appropriate DSOs

If you have multiple DSOs that will be utilizing the report you can share out to them the queries that you have created to divide up your student population.

3. Ensure that you have a default address override reason and code set in your settings

The report will apply your default address override to all requests so, in order to reduce rejections from SEVIS, you should set the default address override and reason appropriately. The most likely setting would be to set the address override reason to 'Other' and to the reason explaining in order to comply with the Fall 2020 Guidance.

In order to set, your default address override, you should do the following:

• Go to your SEVIS Admin -> Settings Menu
• Scroll down to the Address Override Section

• Click the Address Override Button to add in the reason and remark, and click Update

• You will then be able to confirm they are set on screen

Note Regarding Tag Creation.

The utility applies a Record Tag to each record that it processes to allow you to see which records have been processed.  The first time someone in your organization accesses this utility, it will create the new record tag. This message will be displayed confirming the creation of the tag.  

Important Note: Each time you use the utility, this tag will be applied to all processed records allowing you to view which records have already been processed. This tag is shared by the Remarks update and the Dates Update functionality.   Each time you utilize the utility, you should consider whether to clear previously applied tags.   Read more about managing tags.

Using the Utility

1. Navigate to your Stock Reports and Select the 'Fall2020 SEVP Guidance Utility'
2. The report will be displayed to you. Before using the report, some key points to remember are:
   • This utility should only be used on F-1 visa types, other type visas will generate an invalid action to be batched.
   • This utility should only be used by DSOs since they will be the officer associated with the batch action.
3. Select the appropriate saved query that you setup to view a subset of your student population:
4. Once you have selected a query, the students will be populated in the SEVIS Records table:
5. Check the mark next to students that you want to populate or click select all to select all students that are displayed on screen. Then Under the 'Options' Menu (located at the top of the table), Select 'Address Update'
6. Fill in the remarks that you would like to apply to all the selected students, and select the 'Submit for Selected Records' button to begin processing the students.  IMPORTANT: All existing remarks will be overwritten by this process.
   
7. IMPORTANT: The user who selects the 'Submit for Selected Records' button will be the DSO associated with those selected students. If you wish to have multiple DSOs across your student community, you should divide up the selection of the students in this utility by creating and selecting appropriate queries.
8. Once you select the 'Submit for Selected Records' button, the students will begin processing. Depending on how many students you have selected this process could take a while.
9. Once the process is complete, you will be taken back to the student table and see that they have had the record tag applied:
10. If you would like you can either check additional students and repeat the process, or you can select a new query to see a different subset of your students. Remember, if you have multiple pages of students, you will need to navigate to each page in order to process them.
11. Once you have finished the students, you should click the 'Go to Pending Updates' at the top of the table to start the process of creating your batch
12. You will be taken to the SEVIS->Pending Updates Screen and see the new updates that you have created. You should select the student updates that were created , and choose 'Verify Marked Records' under the Options Menu
13. After your pending updates, have verified successfully, then you can select them and either 'Create new batch' or assign to an existing batch
14. Once your pending updates have been assigned to a batch, you can go to the 'Batch Uploads' Menu and submit your batch for processing by SEVIS. At this point, the process follows the standard functionality for uploading and downloading a batch.