Wednesday, March 18, 2015

PIER Newsletter : March 18, 2015

Welcome PIER members and the PIER team. Going forward PIER will mail out information in the form of a bi-monthly newsletter to all PIER members. In the future, this letter will be posted to the PIER website. http://sdpiergroup.blogspot.com/

If you would like to announce a job or submit a resource or event for the PIER Newsletter, please email to piergroupsd@gmail.com for consideration. The PIER Board will take all submissions under consideration for posting in the PIER Newsletter.

Thank you,

The PIER Board


In This Issue:
Announcements
PIER Chair Announcements
PIER Announcements
PIER Chair Announcements

PIER Chair Announcements
CSC Open House
The USCIS California Service Center will hold its quarterly open house. If you would like to attend, please follow the attached instructions. I suggest submitting your questions even if you cannot attend the meeting.

F-1 Student transfers from Prodee University/Neo-American Language School and its
affiliated schools

I thought I would pass on this information in case you have a student request a transfer to your school. The SEVP posted information for these students on their website http://www.ice.gov/sevis/whats-new, but we know it may not be easy for the student to understand based on their English level. I am sure there are several schools that have experience with students in a similar situation. I suggest contacting SEVP or your SEVP Field Representative who should be of assistance, but they may have no additional information and will repeat the information from the
SEVP website.

Here is the message.
A message for international students enrolled at Prodee University/Neo-America Language School and its affiliated schools: On March 11, 2015, SEVP terminated all Principal Designated School Officials and Designated School Officials (P/DSOs) SEVIS access at the following schools:
 Prodee University/Neo-America Language School;
 Likie Fashion and Technology College;
 American College of Forensic Studies; and
 Walter Jay M.D. Institute, an Educational Center

While the above school’s administrative offices will remain open, all P/DSO access to SEVIS will be terminated; they will not and should not have access to SEVIS after March 11, 2015. Students may continue to attend classes as normal or transfer schools, if they wish. Nonimmigrant students must maintain their nonimmigrant student status. Nonimmigrant students who have questions or need to make changes to their records should call the SEVP Response Center (SRC) at 703-603-3400 or email sevp@ice.dhs.gov. This number is staffed from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET), Monday through Friday, except holidays.

Students who call the SEVP Response Center should be prepared to provide the following information to the SEVP staff:
 First and last name
 SEVIS ID number
 Address
 Telephone number where you can be reached
 E-mail address
 Dates of attendance at the school
 Educational level and major of study at the school
 Name of employer and place of employment (if applicable)

PIER Announcements
PIER New Professionals Workshop
Please invite your colleagues to attend the PIER New Professionals Workshop on Friday, March 20, 2015. Walk-in registration will be available at the workshop. In this one-day workshop you will take away valuable information you can utilize in your office. A few topics we will cover:
 Maintaining F-1 Full Course of Study
 Creating SEVIS I-20
 SEVIS Events & Reporting
 Status Updates
 F-1 Employment

Workshop Schedule
9:00am – 9:30am
Check-In & On-site Registration (Room 118)
9:30am – 9:45am
Yasue O’Neill, PIER Chair-Elect
9:45am – 10:00am
The Role of the International Student Advisor/DSO
10:00am – 10:15am
BREAK
10:15am – 11:45am
Basic F-1 Procedures – Part I (Basic Terms & Concepts, Overview of Regulation and SEVIS Reporting)
11:45am to 12:45pm
Lunch on your own
12:45pm – 3:00pm
Basic F-1 Procedures – Part II (SEVIS Events, Status Updates, and Reduced Course Load, Status Updates
and Employment)
3:00pm – 3:15pm
Break
3:15pm – 4:00pm
Q&A, Best Practices

Please register for the New Professionals Workshop at: http://www.piergroup.org/.
Date: Friday, March 20, 2015
Location: National University, La Mesa campus (7787 Alvarado Road, La Mesa CA 91941).
Time: 9:00 am to 4:15 pm
Member Fee: $30.00
Non-Member Fee: $35.00
Payment Due Date: March 5, 2015
Late Fee/On site Fee: $5.00
Price includes breakfast, full workshop and workshop materials booklet. Detailed information is posted on http://www.piergroup.org/

PIER 2014 - 2015 Meeting Dates
All Meeting Times are at 2:00 pm with the exception of the PIER Workshop
March 20, 9am-4:15pm - PIER New Professionals Workshop – Location: National University La Mesa Campus
April 15 – Location: Grossmont College
June 17 – Location: USD
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PIER Board
Chair - Kasey McCarthy, Gemological Institute of America Kasey.McCarthy@gia.edu
Vice - Chair - Yasue O'Neill, Palomar College Yoneill@palomar.edu
Treasurer - Martha Delgadillo, EC San Diego MarthaDelgadillo@ecenglish.com
Membership Coordinator - LyKai Johnson, EC San Diego lykaijohnson@ecenglish.com
Secretary - Eric Abutin, National University eabutin@nu.edu
Web Coordinator - Cadence Ellis, National University cellis@nu.edu