As you may know, September is National Preparedness Month! At the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), we’d like to highlight helpful resources that schools and students can reference to help prepare for emergency events, especially as many international students have returned to in-person learning on campus in the United States.

While studying in the United States, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security understands that international students could potentially face emergency situations while attending their SEVP-certified school. It’s important that F and M students maintain their nonimmigrant student status, even during a possible emergency event. This means that F and M students should take all the necessary actions to remain in status and communicate with their designated school official for emergency plans on their campus. Students should also visit Study in the States’ blog post, “Be Prepared: Emergency Preparedness Resources” for more resources surrounding emergency preparedness, such as Ready.gov’s “Planning for Disasters During COVID” Video Series and Ready.gov’s National Preparedness Month webpage.