I wanted to reply to your thread way back, but didn’t have my login/password handy! Here is what I wanted to share.

My wife paid SEVIS for one university to which she was denied visa and forgot to update the SEVIS information at the university she was granted visa to, six months later.

Fast forward to second masters three years later and this new school says she does not have any SEVIS record anywhere.

We googled and quickly found out you can check SEVIS status online [https://www.fmjfee.com/i901fee/dhs/loadSearchPage.do]. Sadly, my wife's SEVIS info didn't exist. We were scared as shit, and with a heavy heart, we reluctantly wrote to the SEVIS office explaining what happened and if the office could suggest the best course of action at this time. The SEVIS page has an email address you can write to (Check this page for appropriate email - http://www.ice.gov/sevis/contact.htm.)

We received a reply in less than 5 hours, and the officer said that there was no active SEVIS information about my wife in the database.

Here is the best part - he urged us to pay it, which we did outright using an ATM card! We printed the receipt and took it to the DSO! She checked the status and all was good (knock on wood!).

So my suggestion is, write to them.