Posted Date:March 22, 2012
| Author: | William Leith, Service Director, Program Management, Federal Student Aid |
Subject: New Document Verification Request (G-845) Form Available
On January 8, 2012, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), posted a new Document Verification Request (G-845) form and instructions on their Web site. Schools should begin using this G-845 form, rather than the G-845 that expired on June 30, 2008 (as our prior guidance instructed), as soon as possible.
The new G-845 form has an expiration date of January 31, 2015. The new form is available on the USCIS Web site and is also provided as an attachment to this announcement.
Background
Federal Student Aid conducts a match of applicant data in the Central Processing System (CPS) with the DHS to confirm a student's eligible noncitizen status, required to determine eligibility for federal student aid. When the DHS is unable to verify an applicant’s eligible noncitizen status through the automated primary or secondary confirmation process, the school must perform manual secondary confirmation by submitting a Document Verification Request (G-845) form to the DHS along with copies of the applicant’s DHS documentation.
New G-845 Form
The new version of the form has increased from two to three pages in length. Financial aid administrators continue to complete Section A while Sections B and C will be completed by the DHS Status Verifier.
Below we provide a description of the major changes in each section, as well as important information to assist you in filling out the form correctly.
Section A, To Be Completed by Registered Agency Only
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The heading for Section A has been changed from “To be completed by the submitting agency” to “To Be Completed by Registered Agency Only”. Each postsecondary education institution using the G-845 form to verify students’ eligible noncitizen status for Title IV aid is considered a “Registered Agency” under the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED’s) contract with the DHS-USCIS SAVE program. USCIS identifies the school as an ED Agency by the school’s name and address in the “From” field in section A. Enter your school just as you have entered it in the past.
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The wording and position of some questions in Section A have changed but their meaning remains the same.
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Field #1, "Immigration Document Number" now has spaces to enter three different numbers: the student’s Alien Registration Number (A-Number), I-94 (Arrival-Departure Record) Number, or other immigration number (if an A-Number or I-94 Number is not available). Only one of the three numbers must be entered, with the A-Number having the highest priority.
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Enter the student’s 15-digit DHS Verification Number in field #7, “Case Verification Number”. This number is always found in the Match Flag section of the student’s Institutional Student Information Record (ISIR).
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Always leave the following fields blank: #6, "Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) Number" and #8, "Registered Agency Case Number".
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At the end of Section A, at the top of the second page, is a box titled “Registered Agency Comments” in which you may enter additional information about the immigration verification request. Use of this box is optional.
Section B, To Be Completed by USCIS
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Many of the USCIS Responses in Section B have also changed positions, but their meaning has not. Schools should continue to use the information found in Volume 1, Chapter 2 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook to translate the USCIS response received from USCIS.
Note: The current version of Volume 1 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook (for the 2011-2012 Award Year) refers to the previous G-845 form. When reviewing the appropriate action for each USCIS response in the 2011-2012 Federal Student Aid Handbook, schools should disregard the box numbers and use only the headings to identify the action for each response. For example, “Alien not employment authorized in the United States” has changed from #12 on the previous G-845 form to #4 on the new form, but the heading remains the same. Volume 1 of the 2012-2013 Federal Student Aid Handbook will be posted to the Information for Financial Aid Professionals (IFAP) Web site in Spring 2012 and will refer to the new version of the form. -
Response #3 on the new form (#11 on the previous version of the form), “Alien employment authorized in the United States”, has a new section: “c. Prior employment authorization date(s)”. This addition has no impact on the status description in the Federal Student Aid Handbook.
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In Response #7 on the new form (also #7 previously), “Alien paroled…” the boxes separating “… period of one year or more” or “…period of less than one year” have been replaced with “Parole granted on (mm/dd/yyyy)” and “Parole expires on (mm/dd/yyyy)”. From these dates, you can determine whether the student is/was paroled for one year or less. For more information about what constitutes “one year” please see Volume 1, Chapter 2 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook.
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Response #11 on the new form is titled “American Indian born in Canada to whom the provisions of section 289 of the INA apply. Date status recognized (mm/dd/yyyy):___". Information regarding the Jay Treaty can be found in Volume 1, Chapter 2 of the Federal Student Aid Handbook. A student in this status is eligible for federal student aid. Monitor the IFAP Web site for forthcoming guidance related to confirming the eligible noncitizen status of Jay Treaty students with the DHS.
Section C, USCIS Comments
Section C now contains USCIS’ unable to process comments. In this situation, the G-845 form will be returned unstamped/incomplete. Additional information must be attached to the G-845 form and resubmitted for a status determination to be made.
The USCIS Stamp box has moved from Section B to Section C.
Contact Information
If you have specific questions about G-845 processing issues, contact Marya Dennis at 202/377-3385 or marya.dennis@ed.gov.
If you have general questions about the G-845 form, contact Federal Student Aid’s Research and Customer Care Center (RCCC) at 800/433-7327. You can also e-mail the RCCC at fsa.customer.support@ed.gov. The RCCC staff are available 9 A.M. to 5 P.M. (ET), Monday through Friday, excluding federal holidays.