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Timeline of student visa policy in the United States

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| 1992 || {{dts|October 9}} || || || The {{w|Chinese Student Protection Act of 1992}} is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush. It formalizes the protections created by Executive Order 12711.
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| 1993 || {{dts|February 26}} || Violence || || The {{w|1993 World Trade Center bombing}} occurs. It is discovered that {{w|Eyad Ismoil}}, one of the terrorists, is in the United States on an expired student visa.<ref name=shareok/><ref name=ins-fsp-report>{{cite web|url = https://oig.justice.gov/special/0205/chapter6.htm|title = CHAPTER SIX. THE INS'S FOREIGN STUDENT PROGRAM|date = May 20, 2002|accessdate = February 10, 2016}}</ref>
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| 1994 || {{dts|September 24}} || || || A memorandum from the {{w|U.S. Department of Justice}}'s Office of Investigative Agency Policies to the Deputy Attorney General dated September 24, 1994, mentioned the need to subject foreign students to thorough and continuing scrutiny before and during their stay in the United States.<ref name=ins-fsp-report/>
| 1999 || || || || Based on experience gathered from the CIPRIS pilot, the INS begins work on what would be called the {{w|Student and Exchange Visitor Program}} (SEVP), with the associated information system called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). SEVIS meets with considerable initial opposition from the {{w|Association of International Educators}} and {{w|American Council on Education}}, but they claim that their opposition is not to the program in principle but concern that a botched rollout could affect many students.<ref name=shareok/><ref name=ins-fsp-report/>
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| 2001 || September and October || Violence || || In the aftermath of the {{w|September 11 attacks}} (September 11, 2001) and the {{w|Patriot Act}} (October 26, 2001), there is increased momentum in favor of SEVIS. This is partly because one of the attackers, {{w|Hani Hanjour}}, had come to the United States on a student visa.<ref name=shareok/><ref name=ins-fsp-report/><ref name=factcheck-hanjour>{{cite web|url = http://www.factcheck.org/2013/05/911-hijackers-and-student-visas/|title = 9/11 Hijackers and Student Visas|last = Farley|first = Robert|date = May 10, 2013|accessdate = June 17, 2016}}</ref>
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| 2002 || April 12 || Regulation (final rule) || || An interim final rule is announced, requiring anybody on a B visa to transition to a F or M visa prior to starting a program of study. Moreover, people on B status could transition using {{w|Form I-539}} (i.e., change status while in the US) only if their visa had an annotation indicating that they might transition to student status.<ref name=b-visa-transition-to-f-or-m-ifr>{{cite web|url = https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2003/07/09/fr12ap02R.pdf|title = Requiring Change of Status From B to F–1 or M–1 Nonimmigrant Prior to Pursuing a Course of Study; Final Rule Limiting the Period of Admission for B Nonimmigrant Aliens; Proposed Rule|date = April 12, 2002|accessdate = January 29, 2017|publisher = [[U.S. Department of Justice]], [[Immigration and Naturalization Service]], in the ''[[Federal Register]]''}}</ref><ref name=shareok/>
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| 2003 || January 31 || || || Mandatory SEVIS use begins on this date.<ref name=shareok/>
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| 2006 || August || || || Out of 17 Egyptian students who arrive on July 29, 2006 in the United States, due to report at Montana State University for an exchange program, only 6 show up at the university. Of the 11 missing students, 9 are apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with help from the FBI for administrative immigration violations.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/12/egyptian.students/|title = Nine Egyptian students in U.S. custody|date = August 12, 2006|accessdate = July 20, 2020|publisher = CNN}}</ref> None of them are found to have terrorist or criminal connections, and Dean Boyd, a spokesman for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency, says the missing students "had no intention of attending the program and simply wanted to earn more money and stay and look for a better life in America."<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5665195|title = Web-Based System Finds Missing Foreign Students|last = Korry|first = Elaine|date = August 17, 2006|accessdate = July 20, 2020}}</ref> A Congressional Research Service report would cite this as a claimed success of SEVIS as a recordkeeping system.<ref name=crs-2008/>
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| 2020 || {{dts|March 9}}, March 13 || Guidance || ICE SEVP || In two pieces of guidance published on March 9 and March 13, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement temporarily modifies the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) in response to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic in the United States}}. The guidance allows students in F-1 or M-1 status to retain student status while staying in the United States if their school is temporarily closed due to COVID-19, and to maintain status by enrolling in courses online if their school switches coursework to online, whether inside or outside the United States.<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.ice.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Document/2020/Coronavirus%20Guidance_3.13.20.pdf|title = COVID-19: Guidance for SEVP Stakeholders|date = March 13, 2020|accessdate = July 20, 2020|publisher = U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement}}</ref> This temporary modification is extended through the spring and summer, but an announcement on July 6, 2020 partially repeals it for the autumn (fall) of 2020.
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