Activating your SEVIS Record & Avoiding Scams         Issue 10
Greetings,
You will be here soon and one of the first big tasks to take care of is reporting your arrival to ISSS and getting your F-1 or J-1 record activated in SEVIS.
Reminder Tip After Arriving in the U.S.:
  1. Check-in with ISSS by attending one of the F-1 or J-1  Immigration Sessions AND 
  2. Complete your iTerp Check-In.

When you arrive at the Immigration Session:
Be sure to check-in with Staff upon arrival! Attendance is recorded since this session is required.

Before or after attending the Immigration Session complete a Documents Check-In at iTerp:
Logon to iTerp, select "New Student Check-In" from the side menu, and then select "Documents Check-In." Upload the requested documents and your US contact information and click "submit." ISSS will use this information to "activate" your F-1/J-1 immigration status in the government's database, SEVIS, thus reporting your arrival to campus.

Attend other ISSS Orientation Events
In addition to the required Immigration Session, take advantage of a full program of fun and informative orientation week events. These events are designed to aid your transition to life at UMD, College Park, and the United States. 

We also hope you will have fun and meet others! 

  How to Register:
  1. Log into iTerp.
  2. Choose sessions listed under the  " Session Signups " menu. Click on various sessions to view descriptions. 
  3. Find the date the event is offered in the calendar  (location/time are published there).
  4. Click "Sign up" for each event you plan to attend.

If you are not able to register for an elective session because it is "full," we encourage you to show up at the event anyway - ISSS can usually accommodate extra people.
Beware of Scams
We want to alert you to a scam that some international students are reporting: Several new students received phone calls from a phone number that appears to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which are both US government agencies. In reality, the phone call was from a scammer who claimed to be a government official. The scammers requested students to buy a pre-paid credit card and then provide the numbers over the phone. Students, fearing trouble from the IRS or DHS, followed the instructions and lost thousands of dollars! Please be careful and do not let this happen to you!  

This is a useful excerpt from a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Study in the States article on avoiding scams: 
"Do pay your school tuition and established fees. However, it is important to know that the government will never contact you on [phone or] social media to collect funds and a responsible designated school official (DSO) would not demand extra money to fulfill their responsibilities to you as a student."  

We encourage you to read the full article from DHS here,to stay safe and avoid becoming a target for scammers. If you are uncertain if something is a scam or not, please reach out to ISSS to discuss the matter.


Missed a tip of the week or want to read ahead?
You can find them on our website  by clicking here!
We hope that you find these emails informative and helpful.  You are receiving them because you have been accepted to the University of Maryland for the Spring 2020 semester.  If you do not intend to enroll at UMD and would like to stop receiving these emails, please inform your department and the Graduate School (graduate students) or the admissions office (undergraduate students) that you decline your admission.