Some IEP school owners have been alarmed to receive letters from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) with the prominent heading, “No Further Action.” In fact, such letters are simply an acknowledgment that SEVP has reviewed the documentary evidence IEP school administrators supplied in response to Out-of-Cycle Review letters, and that SEVP has no immediate additional evidence requests. The concluding paragraph of the SEVP “No Further Action” letter reads:
SEVP has reviewed the information obtained from your institutuion and will not pursue any further actions concerning the accreditation of your English language training program at this time. Please note that pursuant to the Accreditation Act, your institution must comply with all applicable accrediting requirements of the accrediting agency and must obtain accreditation of the English language training program by December 14, 2013. Furthermore, this notice does not exempt the school from future reviews, and SEVP will continue to monitor the petitioner’s compliance with the regulations. Failure to maintain eligibility in 8 CFR 214.4(a)(2) will result in withdrawal of SEVP certification.
In other words, IEP schools that met the December 14, 2011 deadline to apply for ACCET or CEA accreditation and that supplied documentary evidence to SEVP that they are “in-queue” for accreditation are being informed that SEVP has received the required evidence. This situation should in no way be confused with a SEVP “Notice of Intent to Withdraw,” which would indicate an institution’s failure to meet eligibility standards.
