A national system tracking abuse of international student visas recently reported thousands of violations, but MSU officials said the problem isn't here.
The program, known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS, became a requirement for universities following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - because one of the hijackers entered the United States on a student visa.
In compliance with the federal requirement, the foreign student monitoring system devised at MSU became a national example, said David Gift, vice provost for Libraries, Computing and Technology.
"We spent a lot of time building it," said Peter Briggs, director for the Office of International Students and Scholars. "A lot of other universities purchased the software."
More than 36,000 potential violations of student-issued visas were discovered by the national system since it was set in place. Possible violations include failing to remain a full-time student by university standards, not reporting a change in address in a timely manner or not attending a school at all.
The national SEVIS program is administered by the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, a division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement - which is an investigative portion of the Department of Homeland Security.
Gift said MSU's system gathers information about the student to align with federal records.
"Their name would appear on the student visa records but wouldn't be at the university," he said. "The mismatch would help the federal government determine that the individual is here for fraudulent or malicious purposes."
Briggs said the number of national violations seemed high to him, and MSU international students possibly in violation - which he said is no more than 10 - were already in the process of exiting the country.
"I can't say it has been a big issue of having a cast of illegal immigrants," he said. "We've had a number who couldn't maintain full-time status, but they departed from the U.S."
Mathematics graduate student Weilun Hu said the process to receive a student visa requires several steps.
"It's getting harder and harder each time," Hu said. "It is not easy for people to study in the U.S. It takes months to apply, you wait two hours in the office and they make a decision in 10 minutes, like that. It's definitely anxious and frustrating to get a visa - usually not easy."
Briggs said when an MSU student is found in violation, his office offers assistance.
"The registrar will keep track who is full-time and if they aren't, we get contacted," he said. "If a student drops a class, then we are not full-time. We contact the student to make sure they knew they bear responsibility to work with the adviser to understand what the federal law is."
