On May 29, 2014, the government arrested and indicted five Designated School Officials (DSOs) for student visa and financial aid fraud. The DSOs were all employed by Micropower Career Institute, a for-profit school with five campuses in New York and New Jersey, or the Institute for Health Education, a for-profit school located in New Jersey. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the DSOs were arrested for allegedly orchestrating a wide-ranging fraud scheme, including falsification of student and financial aid files and failure to report to the government students who were non-compliant with the terms of their student visas. ICE HSI stated that a majority of the foreign students at the schools did not attend the required number of classes and instead of reporting this to authorities, the DSOs "remained silent" while the school continued to collect the annual tuition from the students. When the indictment was announced, ICE's Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced that it was revoking the Principal Designated School Official (PDSO) and DSOs access in the SEVIS system for the following schools:

  1. Micropower Career Institute in New York, New York;
  2. Micropower Computer Institute in Linden, New Jersey;
  3. The Institute for Health Education in Jersey City, New Jersey; and
  4. International School of Health, Beauty & Technology in Lauderhill, Florida.

It is not known at this time if SEVP will also issue a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) or Withdraw on Notice (WON) to these institutions in order to completely remove them from the SEVIS program. Students affected by the inability of the PDSO and DSOs of the schools to access the SEVIS system are being directed by SEVP to call the SEVP Response Center to discuss their options.On May 29, 2014, the government arrested and indicted five Designated School Officials (DSOs) for student visa and financial aid fraud. The DSOs were all employed by Micropower Career Institute, a for-profit school with five campuses in New York and New Jersey, or the Institute for Health Education, a for-profit school located in New Jersey. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the DSOs were arrested for allegedly orchestrating a wide-ranging fraud scheme, including falsification of student and financial aid files and failure to report to the government students who were non-compliant with the terms of their student visas. ICE HSI stated that a majority of the foreign students at the schools did not attend the required number of classes and instead of reporting this to authorities, the DSOs "remained silent" while the school continued to collect the annual tuition from the students. When the indictment was announced, ICE's Student Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) announced that it was revoking the Principal Designated School Official (PDSO) and DSOs access in the SEVIS system for the following schools:

  1. Micropower Career Institute in New York, New York;
  2. Micropower Computer Institute in Linden, New Jersey;
  3. The Institute for Health Education in Jersey City, New Jersey; and
  4. International School of Health, Beauty & Technology in Lauderhill, Florida.

It is not known at this time if SEVP will also issue a Notice of Intent to Withdraw (NOIW) or Withdraw on Notice (WON) to these institutions in order to completely remove them from the SEVIS program. Students affected by the inability of the PDSO and DSOs of the schools to access the SEVIS system are being directed by SEVP to call the SEVP Response Center to discuss their options.