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OfficialStudy in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · Last verified
Your student record was switched off. What now?
A terminated SEVIS record ends your student status and the work permission attached to it. There are two ways back — asking to be reinstated, or leaving and returning on a new record — and one deadline that decides whether the first is still open.
Who can switch it off, and why that matters
A record can be terminated by a designated school official, by a Department of Homeland Security adjudicator, or by SEVIS itself. Knowing which of the three happened decides what you do next, because a termination entered in error is corrected by the school through a SEVIS correction or data fix rather than by an application to USCIS. The first thing to establish is therefore not what to file — it is who ended it and on what reason code.
Source: Study in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · in effect from 2021-01-01
Asking to be reinstated
If you want to stay and keep studying, ask your designated school official to recommend you for reinstatement in SEVIS. If they agree, they issue a new Form I-20 marked for reinstatement, and you then file Form I-539 with USCIS. Both halves are required: the school's recommendation on its own does not restore status, and neither does a filing without the new I-20.
Source: Study in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · in effect from 2021-01-01
The five-month line
To be eligible for reinstatement you must not have been out of status for more than five months when you file, unless you can show the exceptional circumstance that prevented filing within that time. That is the deadline that quietly decides which of your two options is still available, and it runs from the violation rather than from the day you found out about it.
Source: Study in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · in effect from 2021-01-01
Leaving and coming back instead
The other route is to regain status by departing the United States and re-entering on a new initial-attendance Form I-20. It works, and it has a cost that is easy to miss: it restarts your F-1 status and the benefits clock from the beginning. Practical training eligibility that was built up under the old record does not come with you.
Source: Study in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · in effect from 2021-01-01
What stops immediately
Termination ends the student status and the employment authorization that depends on it, including on-campus work and practical training. Dependent records are affected as well and are handled through their own terminate-or-reactivate process. Stop working first and ask questions second — continuing to work on a terminated record adds a second problem to the one you already have.
Source: Study in the States — SEVIS Help Hub · in effect from 2021-01-01
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Frequently asked questions
- How long do I have to apply for reinstatement?
- You must not have been out of status for more than five months at the time of filing, unless you can show an exceptional circumstance that prevented you from filing within that period.
- Can I keep working on OPT if my record was terminated?
- No. Termination ends the student status and the employment authorization that depends on it. Working after termination adds a further violation.
- My school terminated my record by mistake. Do I file for reinstatement?
- Not necessarily. Where a designated school official wrongly terminated a record, the school requests a SEVIS correction or data fix rather than the student applying to USCIS. Establish which happened before filing anything.