SEVP Portal Help

The SEVP Portal is a tool students use to report their employer information and maintain F-1 status while on OPT. SEVP is the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, a US government specialized immigration organization. SEVIS is the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, where the immigration records of students are maintained.

 

Reporting Requirements

Students are required to update their personal and employer information in the SEVP Portal account to maintain their F-1 status.

Report the following information within 10 days of the change:

  • Home address (where you physically stay)
  • Employer(s)
    • Enter your first employer
    • Update any changes to employer(s), such as addresses or contacts
    • Do not delete any employers for record keeping

 

How to Use the SEVP Portal Account

Students are required to update their personal or employer information in SEVP Portal account to maintain F-1 status. See below for directions on how to create an account for the first time and how to enter employer information.

Step 1: Create an SEVP Portal Account

On your approved OPT start date, you will receive an email to the email address that is in your immigration record with a link to create your SEVP Portal account, and directions to create a password.  The email will come from do-not-reply.sevp@ice.dhs.gov. The link to create an account will work for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, the link will expire. Please contact our office if the link has expired and we will reset your account.

  1. Locate your SEVIS ID. The SEVIS ID number starts with N00… and is on the top left corner of your I-20. Enter your SEVIS ID.
  2. Enter your email address. The email address should be the same as the one that received the account creation email. Do not enter a different email.

 

Step 2: Enter or Update Employer Information

The Portal allows you to update your contact information and employer information any time these things change. You can login from here: https://sevp.ice.gov/opt/#/login  You will not be able to access your Portal with the link you originally received via email after you first set up your account.

Please be sure to carefully and accurately enter your address, phone number and email if any of these change while you are on OPT. You can see more directions, videos and resources on using the SEVP Portal here: https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/sevp-portal-help

 

Entering your employer information:

  • Enter the start date. This will be the day you actually began working.
  • Enter the employer’s name.
    • If your employer uses multiple names, double check with your employer to confirm the legal name of the company.
  • Enter the employer’s address.
    • If your employer has multiple addresses, enter the address you physically go to work. Then add your employer’s headquarters address in the “How employment is related to course work” section.
  • Enter if you are working part time or full time.
    • Part time is defined as working less than 20 hours/week.
    • Full time is defined as working more than 20 hours/week.
    • Students are required to work a combined total of at least 20 hours/week across multiple employers during OPT. If you are working with multiple employers, submit an entry for each one in the SEVP Portal and select “Part time or Full time”.

Do not delete any employers, unless it was entered in error and you did not work there. If you left an employer, add last day you worked. Do not delete any entries!

 

If you work for one employer but are contracted to another:

  • Enter the name of the company that has legally hired you.
  • Enter the address of the office where you physically go to work each day, even if it is different than the address of the hiring company.
  • In the “Comments” section of the Portal, please write the following:
    • Company contracted to: xxxxxxxx Address of hiring company: xxxxxxx

 

REMEMBER: You cannot enter an employer start date that is more than ten days before today.

Students must enter their employer information in their SEVP Portal within 10 days of the change. If it has been more than 10 days, the system will not allow you to update the information. If this happens, please submit an OPT Employment Update request in the ISSS Portal. Our team will then enter your employer details for you. You will receive an email once it has been processed.

 

Step 3: Request an I-20 Reprint (if needed)

You will need an updated I-20 if:

  • Your employer requests it from you
  • You need to renew your driver’s license
  • You plan on travelling abroad in the next 6 months

Note: Students on OPT will not be able to access the ISSS Portal using their myUMBC credentials. When a student receives an OPT recommendation from our office, we send out an email with instructions on how to set up an ISSS Portal account using a personal email address. Students on OPT will need to login using their personal email address to access the ISSS Portal.

If you need an updated I-20, please login to your ISSS Portal using your personal email address. Then, submit an “I-20 Reprint Request”. Remember to update your SEVP Portal record before submitting the I-20 Reprint Request. If you are having issues logging into your ISSS Portal account, please contact the ISSS office.

 

SEVP Portal Troubleshooting

 

Try these following methods if you cannot access your SEVP Portal account:

  1. You forgot your password:  Go to the SEVP Portal login screen, click the “reset password” link, and follow the directions there.
  2. Your SEVP Portal account is locked:  Your account will lock after 90 days if you do not access it.  If this happens, first please try the “reset password” option from the SEVP Portal login screen.  If this does not work, please contact us, and we can request the account to be unlocked and you will receive an email with directions on how to access the account again.
  3. Your password reset is not working:  Please do NOT try to update your Portal on your phone – SEVP recommends using a computer for this step. They also recommend clearing your browsing history, and if you are using Google Chrome and are still unable to make the change, try Internet Explorer.
  4. Your employer address is not accepted by the Portal: The Portal will make sure that every address entered for an employer is a legitimate address. Please enter addresses very carefully, and make sure to put the different parts of the address in the appropriate fields.  If you have entered the address perfectly and it is not accepted, please contact us with the address and we can help with this.
  5. Your name, birthday, or other personal details that you can see in the Portal are incorrect: Please contact us if you notice any errors to information in the Portal that you do not have access to. Please note that these pieces of information should match your I-20 exactly.
  6. You do not receive an email to create your Portal account when your OPT starts: First, please note that you will only receive a Portal email on your OPT start date – not when it is approved, but when it actually begins!  The email will be sent to the email address in your immigration record, which is often changed to your personal email address when you apply for OPT to make sure you still receive these emails after you graduate and may stop regularly checking your UMBC email.
    If you do not receive this email in your personal email account, please contact us and we can make sure your email address is entered correctly in your immigration record.
  7. You receive an email about the Portal from an email address other than UMBC ISSS staff or do-not-reply.sevp@ice.dhs.gov: This is likely a scam, please do not respond to any email not from us or the government email noted here!  SEVP is concerned that scammers may target students on OPT with fake emails about the Portal to try to get your personal information.  If you receive an email you aren’t sure about, please contact us and we can help determine if it is legitimate.
  8. You asked ISSS to make a change in your immigration record today, but you don’t see the change in the Portal yet: There is a one-day delay in when information entered directly into the SEVIS immigration system is updated in the Portal. Try again after one day to verify the change.

 

Further Resources on the SEVP Portal: