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Learn about the SEVP Portal
Read the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) Portal Student User Guide published by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. It illustrates how to create a portal account and log activities during a period of approved post-completion OPT.
Create Your SEVP Portal Account
- Wait for your OPT to be approved and your OPT start date to pass. Within 1 to 2 business days after your approved start date (printed on your EAD), you should receive an email invitation from the U.S. government.
- There is no cost associated with creating an account or accessing the portal. Any email asking you to pay money to create your SEVP Portal account/use the portal is fake.
- If you do not receive the email from SEVP within 2 business days after your OPT start date on your EAD, follow the instructions for ISS portal help.
Use the SEVP Portal
- Did you already create your SEVP portal account?
- Have you maintained active access?
Great! You can access the SEVP Portal:
If you have problems accessing the portal, use the following resources:
Portal Help
Use the ISS Portal Account Assistance form to request help with the following portal issues:
- Reset password
- Change your email address
- Unlocking a locked portal account
- Never received the link to set up your account
Get SEVP Portal Assistance From ISS through MyISSS.
Common Portal Problems
- Check your EAD card. Invitation emails are sent after the OPT approval date.
- Check your spam/junk email.
- Have you had OPT before after a previous degree? If so, you won’t get a new invitation email. Login using your SEVIS-registered email address (most often your @uw.edu address) and the reset password function to gain access to your SEVP portal account.
- Submit a Portal Help Request in MyISSS.
Report your OPT update through MyISSS. The SEVP Portal will not allow you to self-report changes for more than 10 days in the past, but we can report updates for you.
As long as you report your update through MyISSS, you are meeting your reporting deadline. ISS will need additional processing time to update the information in SEVIS.
Use the reset password function on the SEVP Portal landing page. A temporary password will be sent to your SEVIS-registered email address within a few minutes. Using the temporary password, follow the prompts on the SEVP Portal page to reset the password.
Note: When the page prompts you for your ‘old’ password, they are asking for the temporary password that was just emailed to you. SEVP Portal passwords require very specific character use, so please read the requirements carefully when creating your password.
If you cannot reset the password, submit a Portal Help request through MyISSS.
If you recently transferred to a new school from a period of post-completion OPT, your new school must register your SEVIS record. During this process, the new school will also change the email address in your SEVIS record. This is an automated process.
If you are transferring to the UW, for example, your uw.edu email account information uploads to SEVIS, which replaces the previous email account associated with your SEVIS record and SEVP portal account. You can disregard the email from SEVP regarding the change.