Note
Update on Aug. 8, 2024: The Department provided an update via EA (GENERAL-24-100) to describe a temporary change to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) to allow institutions to complete third-step verification for applicants who indicate they are an eligible noncitizen on the FAFSA form but fail the DHS primary match process and have a secondary match status of “pending.”
As part of a series of checks performed by the FAFSA® Processing System (FPS) to verify an applicant’s eligibility for federal student aid, the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, or SAVE, is used to verify the immigration status of students who claim to be eligible noncitizens. If an applicant indicates on the FAFSA form that they are an eligible noncitizen and provides an A-Number, their identifying information is sent to the DHS for eligible noncitizen verification. The results on this match are displayed on the ISIR, represented as DHS match statuses.
While ISIRs continue to be verified with the DHS through the initial—or primary—match process, the secondary match process with the DHS is not yet available for the 2024-25 application cycle. The Department anticipates that the DHS secondary match process will be available in the near future, and we will notify schools by posting additional updates to the Knowledge Center.
Currently, schools are unable to view or resolve cases that are pending review under the secondary match process. Schools that attempt to resolve DHS match flags related to an applicant’s eligible noncitizen status on the ISIR via the SAVE system by searching for the applicant’s case will receive a “No Cases Found” message. Schools should refer to the DHS Match Statuses (Fields 557-558) on the student’s ISIR to determine if they must wait for a new system-generated ISIR before attempting to verify eligible noncitizen status in SAVE.
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If the DHS Primary Match Status (Field 557) is “N” (Not confirmed eligible noncitizen) AND the DHS Secondary Match Status (Field 558) is “P” (Pending), the case is still in second step verification. You must wait for a new ISIR with updated DHS Match Statuses before checking the case in SAVE.
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If the DHS Primary Match Status (Field 557) is “N” AND the DHS Secondary Match Status (Field 558) is “N” (Not confirmed eligible noncitizen), the case has completed the second step verification and you can check the status in SAVE. If you still see the “No Cases Found” message, check the case again in a few days.
For additional guidance on the DHS-SAVE system and the DHS Match Statuses, see the SAVE Instructions for U.S. Department of Education (School) Users 4.0 document located on the DHS-SAVE Electronic Third Step Verification page of the Knowledge Center website. For assistance with interpreting a SAVE response, please email the student’s DHS Verification number to applicationsystemsdivision@ed.gov.