SEVIS Activation Guide

Once you are in the United States and at Stevens, you are ready to submit your SEVIS Activation Form. Open the ISSS Student Portal by selecting "Login with Campus ID" and using your MyStevens Credentials.

Trouble with your MyStevens credentials or Okta Verification? Contact IT User Services.

Reviewing your Information

Once you are in your ISSS Portal, be sure to review your information at the top of the screen. Make sure to contact [email protected] if there are any changes needed to your name, ID Numbers, education level, etc. As a reminder, your ISSS Student Portal Name must match the name listed on your passport ID page.

Tab 1: "Welcome to your ISSS Student Portal"

The first page of your Portal, "Welcome to your ISSS Portal!", will always list a number of reminders and resources for international students. We recommend that you review these resources regularly to ensure that you are maintaining your F-1 or J-1 Student Status.

Tab 2: "Personal & Program Information"

Here in your second tab, you will review all of your information listed on the page. Check your date of birth and citizenship information. When reviewing your Program Major information, keep in mind that your major name might look slightly different than your major in Workday. For example, Financial Analytics students might see "Business Statistics" as their major in the ISSS Student Portal. This is because SEVIS categorizes majors under certain names. If you are unsure of your major name, feel free to email [email protected] for clarification.

Your primary email address should always be your Stevens Email Address while you are a student at Stevens. It is important to familiarize yourself with your Stevens email - this is the email address where all important information will be sent to you by the ISSS office and other offices on campus. Failure to check your Stevens email regularly may result in you missing important reminders that can jeopardize your immigration status.

For your U.S. Physical Address, you will not be updating the information here. When you submit the SEVIS Activation form, that is where you will report your U.S. Address. After SEVIS Activation is completed, your U.S. Physical Address will be viewable on this tab.

Tab 3: "Control Center"

Your control center is where you will find all available requests to be sent to the ISSS team, including the SEVIS Activation Form. The first component of the form is the F-1 & J-1 Maintenance of Status Video. All students must watch the F-1 & J-1 Maintenance of Status video before proceeding to the fillable form. When you complete the form, you will be acknowledging that have watched the video. Maintenance of Status information is available to you at all times on our Maintenance of Status Webpage.

Once you watch the video and begin filling out your information, you will enter:

• Your current U.S. address can list your temporary address. Once you move to a permanent location, ISSS can assist you in updating your U.S. Address on your SEVIS Records. As a reminder, all changes to your personal information must be reported to ISSS within 10 days of the change. 

  • Example U.S. Address: 

  • Building Number: 300

  • Street Name: Washington Street

  • Apartment/Unit/Flat Number: 3R

  • City: Hoboken

  • Zip Code: 07030

• Your U.S. Phone Number: If you do not yet have a U.S. Phone Number, please leave this section blank. However, please remember that it is required of all F-1 and J-1 Visa Holders to report a U.S. Phone Number to ISSS once obtained.
  

• Emergency Contact Information: Your emergency contact should be an immediate family member - a parent, sibling, aunt, uncle, etc. whom ISSS can contact in the event of an emergency on campus.

  • Your emergency contact does not need to be in the U.S., and does not need to speak English.

• Your I-94 Form Electronic Record. Please read more about your I-94 Record below.

Once your form is complete and submitted, it would be routed to the ISSS team for processing. Students that do not complete the SEVIS Activation form in the ISSS Portal within 5 days of their arrival will recieve a SEVIS Activation Workday hold on their academic records. The SEVIS Activation Workday hold will be removed 2-3 business days after submission.

Name & Date of Birth:

• This information should be reviewed in your Personal & Program Tab and should match your passport ID page.

ID Numbers:

You will need to review two ID numbers on your ISSS Student Portal:

• CWID: Your CWID Number is your Stevens or Campus Wide ID Number. This can be found in your Admissions packet or on your Workday Student Profile. The CWID number should start with 2-0-0 or with 1-0-4.

• SEVIS ID Number: Your SEVIS ID number is the number linked with your SEVIS or immigration records. This number can be found at the top of your Form I-20 or DS-2019. It will start with N-0-0.

U.S. Address:

• This should be the address within the U.S. where you are staying at the time of submitting your form. If you are staying at a temporary location, such as an AirBnB or a hotel (provide hotel room number), you will enter the address in the SEVIS Activation form.

• Address Example: 900 Washington Street, Apartment B, Hoboken, NJ, 07030

U.S. Phone Number:

• Entering a U.S. Phone Number is optional at the time of submission.

• If you do not yet have a U.S. Phone Number, please leave this section blank. However, please remember that it is required of all F-1 and J-1 Visa Holders to report a U.S. Phone Number to ISSS once obtained.

Emergency Contact:

• Your emergency contact should be an immediate family member that ISSS will contact in the event of an emergency. Your emergency contact does not need to be in the U.S. or speak English.

I-94 Upload:

• Please find your electronic I-94 Records at the I-94 Webpage after entering the details as found on your passport. The I-94 Upload should be a screenshot of the first page of your I-94.

  • ISSS does not need your travel history section of your I-94 Record. The page uploaded should list your A- number, first and last name, date of birth, and your visa type.

Visa Upload:

• Uploading a scanned copy of your U.S. F-1 or J-1 Visa is optional.

U.S. Addresses are made up of multiple parts: the Building Number and Street Name, an apartment, room, or floor number if you are residing in an apartment building, a city, state, and a zip or postal code.

Address Example:

• Building Number and Street Name: 900 Washington Street

• Apartment / Unit / Floor: APT B / Unit B / Floor 2

• City: Hoboken

• State: NJ

• Zip/Postal Code: 07030

Staying at the Sheraton Hotel?

Sheraton Hotel Address: 500 Harbor Blvd, [ENTER HOTEL ROOM NUMBER], Weehawken, NJ, 07086

Popular Zip Codes:

Your I-94 Record is the DHS Arrival/Departure Record issued to non-immigrants who are admitted to the U.S. Your I-94 Record will show your Admission Number, your “Admit Until Date”, your biographical information, and your “Class of Admissions”.

You will also be able to access your Travel History through your I-94 Records. This will show a record of the most recent times you have entered and exited the U.S.

You should access your I-94 Records by going to the I-94 Official Website, selecting “Get Most Recent I-94”, and inputting your passport information.

As an F-1 or J-1 student, your I-94 should state the following:

• Your admission number

• Admit Until Date: “D/S” (or ‘Duration of Status’)

• Correct biographical information

• Class of Admissions: F-1 or J-1, depending on your visa type

I-94 records may take a few days to update online. If your I-94 does not populate electronically after 3-5 days, you must contact CBP for assistance.

If your I-94 is not populating but you would like to submit your SEVIS Activation Form earlier, or the program start date is approaching, you may scan and upload a copy of your I-94 stamp from CBP in your passport.

Students that do not complete the SEVIS Activation form in the ISSS Portal within 5 days of their arrival will receive a SEVIS Activation Workday hold on their academic records. The SEVIS Activation Workday hold will be removed 2-3 business days after submission.

The SEVIS Activation Workday Hold does not have any impact on your program and is placed on your records as a reminder of the requirement.

As a reminder, the SEVIS Activation Form cannot be submitted prior to December 22, 2024 (within 30 days of the program start date). The student must be in the United States and reporting to Stevens at the time of their SEVIS Activation Form submission.

You may begin your program as planned while the SEVIS Activation Hold is on your account. It will not impact your ability to choose or change classes or to attend your orientation or courses once the semester begins.

While the form is called a 'transcript hold', submission of transcripts is not necessary to remove the hold.