Tax Time
Immigration Name Change
How are you going to get a SEVIS DS-2019
Notify INS if you change your local address
What s Grand Marshall week?
Driving Tip
American Slang

Tax Time

The ISSS Office sponsored a tax workshop on March 20, 2003. A copy of the handout is available in the ISSS homepage under the tax section.

Remember if you did not receive any paychecks from Rensselaer or any other US company during the year 2002 then the ONLY tax form you have to fill out is Form 8843. You can download this form from the IRS website. It must be at the IRS office by June 14, 2003.

If you did receive a paycheck from Rensselaer or any other US company during the year 2002 then you MUST file a IRS tax form and perhaps a New York State tax form. This must be postmarked by April 15, 2003. Postmarked means the post office must have the envelope in hand and stamp the date on it.

Immigration Name changes

On March 1, INS enforcement and service functions and responsibilities transitioned into the Department of Homeland Security

The following information comes from NAFSA: Association of International Educators and ILW.com.
On March 1st, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) ceased to exist. Its enforcement, services and administrative functions have been transferred to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS)

Immigration functions have been divided into three separate bureaus under the DHS. The transition of these functions begins March 1, 2003, but is expected to take many months to bring to closure.

BCIS - the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services will be responsible for most of the application and petition adjudication’s done by the former INS. Until further notice, however, all INS forms, fees, office addresses, and procedures will remain the same. Application filing fees can be made out to either BCIS or INS until further notice. The website for the BCIS is http://www.immigration.gov

BICE - the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be responsible for INS investigations, detention, removal, intelligence, and SEVIS.

BCBP - the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection will be responsible for INS inspections at U.S. ports of entry, for the border patrol, and for the Customs Service.
The INS has also issued a public notice on this transition; go to: http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/publicaffairs/newsrels/insassure.htm
In the February 26, 2003 edition of ISSS-BU News, we included the text of the new brochure published by the BCIS that explains the transition from the INS. To view it, go to:http://www.immigration.gov/graphics/ChangingINSbrochure.pdf (you will need Adobe Acrobat viewer to download this document.)

How are you going to get a SEVIS DS-2019

The ISSS Office will be sending you a form to fill out and bring to the office. At that time you will be told when you can return to receive your SEVIS DS-2019.

We hope to have all scholars in the SEVIS system by June 1, 2003. But the law says we have until August 1, 2003.

Notify INS if you change you change your local address

INS Form AR-11 must be used by all foreign nationals residing in the United States, including U.S. permanent residents and non-immigrants, who are over the age of 14 and remaining in the United States for more than thirty days to report any change in address
to the INS within ten days.

This regulation can be found in Section 262(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.

There is no fee for filing Form AR-11. To obtain a copy of form AR-11 you can download it from the INS website: http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/ar-11.pdf

This must be done in addition to notifying the ISSS Office.

What is Grand Marshall Week?

Grand Marshall Week starts Friday, April 4, 2003

It is an annual student-run event. The focus of the week is the election of new student government representatives for the next school year. The Grand Marshal is the highest elected student office at Rensselaer. For more information on events for the week check Wednesday, April 2th Poly or pick up a GM Week booklet or go to www.rpi.edu/dept/union/gmweek.

Driving Tip

Winter is not over yet. But now the roads will be wet as everything melts and it will cause what is called “road spray”. This means you will have to clean you windshield quite often. So make sure the windshield wiper reservoir in the car is full. Remember not to use plain water. If the temperature goes below freezing the reservoir would freeze. You can purchase windshield wiper fluid at the grocery store, gas station or Wal-Mart.

American Slang

March Madnes

A Tradition is Born
“March Madness” was born in Illinois. The annual tournament of high school boy’s basketball teams, sponsored by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), grew from a small invitational affair in 1908 to a statewide institution with over 900 schools competing by the late 1930's. A field of teams known as the “Sweet Sixteen” routinely drew sellout crowds to the University of Illinois' Huff Gymnasium. In a time before television, before the college game became popular with the average fan, before professional leagues had established a foothold in the nation's large cities, basketball fever had already reached epidemic proportions in the Land of Lincoln.

Today's March Madness is different from the original version. Nowadays an “Elite Eight” of teams advances to the state finals, but there are four tournaments — a Class A (small school) and Class AA (large school) version for both boys and girls, played in Peoria and Normal. “The Happening,” a thrilling contest featuring the state's best three-point shooters and dunkers, is now a part of these tournaments as well.