U.s. Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Department of Homeland Security proposes to amend its regulations addressing the payment of interest on cash bond deposits to explicitly provide that the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) will set the interest rate. In the future, Treasury will notify the public of its interest rate determinations by publishing the rates on the Treasury Web site or via another mechanism. The current rate of interest paid on deposits securing cash bonds is 3 percent per annum. 8 U.S.C. 1363(a); 8 CFR 293.2. This action is consistent with the requirement of 8 U.S.C. 1363(a) that interest payments shall be ``at a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, except that in no case shall the interest rate exceed 3 per centum per annum.''

On March 31, 2007, the name of the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection changed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the name of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement changed to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This final rule revises two chapter headings in title 19 of the Code of Federal Regulations to reflect the name changes for those two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) components.

The Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (USICE), has submitted the following information collection request for review and clearance in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The information collection was previously published in the Federal Register on April 14, 2009 Vol. 74 No. 70 17205. This document contains corrections to certain portions of those notices that were published erroneously.

This rule adjusts the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) school certification petition fees and the application fees for nonimmigrants seeking to become academic (F visa) or vocational (M visa) students, or exchange visitors (J visa). The rule sets the following fees: $1,700 for a school certification petition and $655 for each site visit for certification; and $200 for each F or M student. This rule also sets a $180 fee for most J exchange visitors; however, the $35 fee for each J exchange visitor seeking admission as an au pair, camp counselor, or summer work/travel program participant will remain the same. All fee payments addressed in this final rule must be made in the amounts established by this rule beginning October 27, 2008. The rule also establishes procedures for the oversight and recertification of schools attended by F and/or M students, establishes procedures for schools to submit recertification petitions, adds a provision allowing a school to voluntarily withdraw from its certification, and clarifies procedures for school operation with regard to F and M students during recertification and following a denial of recertification or a withdrawal of certification. Finally, the rule removes obsolete provisions used prior to implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is proposing to amend the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) school certification petition fee and the application fee for nonimmigrants seeking to become academic (F visa) or vocational (M visa) students, or exchange visitors (J visa). This proposed rule would adjust the fees for schools seeking to admit F or M students; adjust the fees paid by individual F, M or J nonimmigrants; implement mandatory review of fees collected by SEVP; set the fee for submitting a school certification petition at $1700, plus $655 for each site; set the fee for each F or M student at $200; for most J exchange visitors at $180; and for exchange visitors seeking admission as au pairs, camp counselors, and summer work/travel program participants at $35. DHS proposes to make this rule effective at the beginning of fiscal year 2009, on October 1, 2008. DHS proposes also to establish oversight and recertification of schools for attendance by F or M students. The proposed rule would establish procedures for schools to submit their recertification petitions, add a provision allowing a school to voluntarily withdraw from its certification, and clarify procedures for school operation with regard to F or M students during recertification and following a denial of recertification or a withdrawal of certification. Further, the proposed rule would remove obsolete provisions used prior to implementation of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a Web-enabled database that provides current information on F, M and J nonimmigrants in the United States.