Impact of government shutdown and temporary SEVIS maintenance outage

The immigration process is largely fee-based, so most immigration operations will continue during a government shutdown:

•    SEVIS - SEVP/SEVIS is fee-funded, however the Department of Homeland Security announced that the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) will be upgrading the SEVIS system requiring a system outage from Friday, December 21, 2018 at 8pm until Monday, December 24, 2018 at 8am. This outage is not related to the shutdown.

•    U.S. Consulates and Visa Services – The Department of State’s consular services are fee-funded and will continue to operate, but the shutdown combined with the holidays may result in slower processing of visa applications.  If you are renewing your visa while abroad you might experience delays in visa issuance.  If your visa application is delayed, please be sure to advise the consular post of the date you are expected to return to campus to resume classes or your employment.  Please also email OVIS and your academic program or department to notify us of the potential delay in your return from overseas.  Note that the Dept of State does not have a mechanism for expediting the visa process, but the agency does prioritize applications for students.

•    USCIS – USCIS is fee-funded and will continue to operate normally in the processing and adjudication of applications for immigration benefits.

•    EVerify – The EVerify electronic service used by Dartmouth to verify employment eligibility will be suspended, but Forms I-9 will continue to be processed.

•    Social Security – Social Security has confirmed that it is operational and is processing applications for Social Security Numbers.