Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 5, 2004|Volume 33, Number 10

Yale to pay fee for students seeking visas

Yale will pay the $100 fee required of all its new degree-seeking international students by the federal government, President Richard C. Levin has announced.

The $100 fee charged to students is used by the Department of Homeland Security to finance the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). SEVIS is a federally mandated system for tracking information relating to international students and scholars.

Each new international student who applies for a visa after Sept. 1, 2004 is required to pay the fee before a visa application will be considered. U.S. colleges and universities have been required to enter information into the SEVIS database for almost two years, but the student fee only recently became effective.

"I wish to thank the provost, the deans and the Graduate Student Assembly for their support of this plan, which underscores the critical importance of international students to the Yale community and its academic endeavors," Levin said.

"Yale's decision to pay the SEVIS fee directly for each student who commits to attend Yale will spare international students not only the expense but also the inconvenience of paying the fee," he added.

Each year approximately 500 new international students come to the University to pursue degrees at the undergraduate, graduate and professional level.

Levin noted that Yale's action regarding the fee supplements the visa policy initiatives taken by the University, as well as Yale's ongoing efforts to work with the federal government to ensure that the nation's need to safeguard its borders does not place unnecessary obstacles in the way of international students and scholars.

Information on Yale's policies regarding student visas can be found at www.yale.edu/opa/intl.

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