ISSS News 27 July 2009

An electronic news service for international students and scholars, owned by the Office of International Student and Scholar Services at Binghamton University, State University of New York

The University is conducting a major upgrade of its student records system to add additional security and functionality. To perform the upgrade, BU Brain and Banner will be off line until 10 a.m. Friday, July 31. This shutdown will have a significant impact on University services during this time period.

Transcripts, classroom scheduling, grading, etc. will be unavailable from July 27th through the 31st at 10 a.m. Services provided by Student Accounts, Financial Aid, and Graduate and Undergraduate Admissions will be extremely limited.

Also affected are offices that need to access BU Brain and Banner to perform their functions. In the ISSS, we check BU Brain and Banner prior to processing:

Requests or application forms submitted this week will be held but not processed until BU Brain and Banner come back on-line beginning Friday, July 31.

We would like to call your attention to information for New Fall 2009 international students that
was recently posted to the ISSS website: http://isss.binghamton.edu

You will also find three electronic mailings the ISSS has sent to admitted students at the following links:

Although it is still four weeks until the Monday, August 24 start date of international student orientation, new international students have begun to arrive on campus. If you happen to meet a new student, please be sure to direct them to the office of International Student and Scholar Services. Although ISSS will not be photocopying visa documents until International Student Orientation August 24-26, 2009, the ISSS is recording new student arrivals and distributing their very helpful early arrival information sheet. ISSS looks forward to welcoming the newest entering class of international students this Fall!

ISSS also thanks the many current international students who have been in contact with new students. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

4. Singer Songwriter Melissa Etheridge Appears “Live And Alone” at The Anderson Center on Sunday, August 23, 2009

On Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 8:00pm, Grammy Award winning Melissa Etheridge will bring her “Live and Alone” concert to the Anderson Center stage. Etheridge is a singer-songwriter who over the course of a twenty-plus year career, has released ten albums, including three multi-platinum and two gold albums. Etheridge has won numerous awards for her songs, including the Grammy, ASCAP Pop Award, and the 2007 Oscar in the “Best Song” category for “I Need to Wake Up,” written for the Al Gore documentary on global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.

Born in Leavenworth, Kansas, Etheridge picked up the guitar at the age of eight and began playing in local bands in her teens. She attended Boston’s Berklee College of Music for one year but left to make her way as a performer in Los Angeles. Her bluesy vocal style and riveting stage presence has attracted a strong following.

Tickets: Inside reserved, $60; Lawn seats, $30
For tickets and information: 607-777-ARTS or http://anderson.binghamton.edu

This concert is sponsored in part, by Star 105, NewsChannel 34 and Time Warner Cable

Many BU international students and scholars used CINTAX tax preparation software to prepare their 2008 federal income tax forms.

On August 16, 2009, CINTAX will permanently delete all information in your CINTAX record, including any tax returns. This is done to clear their system in preparation for next year’s tax filing.

If you have not already printed and/or saved a copy of your return and forms, you must do so prior to August 15; if you have a copy of your tax return and forms, you do NOT need to access CINTAX to obtain another one. As of August 16, 2009 you will NOT be able to access your 2008 CINTAX record nor print your 2008 tax returns and forms.

It is very important to keep a copy of your tax returns and forms - you MUST keep the copies for four calendar years. This includes form 8843. CINTAX will not keep a copy of your tax return or forms and you may not access the data from them or contact them to retrieve your data after August 16, 2009.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) reports that applications continue to be processed. Approximately 44,900 H-1B cap-subject petitions and approximately 20,000 petitions qualifying for the advanced degree cap exemption had been filed. USCIS will continue to accept both cap-subject petitions and advanced degree petitions until a sufficient number of H-1B petitions have been received to reach the statutory limits, taking into account the fact that some of these petitions may be denied, revoked, or withdrawn.

USCIS will provide regular updates on the processing of FY2010 H-1B petitions. The updates can be found on the USCIS’ Web site at www.uscis.gov/h-1b_count

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