Hi I am on F-1 visa and very close to graduating so I went to my DSO to apply for OPT. He asked me if I had paid the SEVIS fee -- which is the $200 fee you pay before applying for your visa. This was long time back in 2009 when I was applying for Spring 2010. I had applied to a bunch of schools and once I received my I-20 I applied for visa interview and paid my SEVIS fee under that school's SEVIS. After the visa interview I was granted the visa but the visa officer had advised me to get a new passport issued as my current passport was damaged. This took a while so I had to defer my acceptance in the 1st school and ask for my visa from another school on a different SEVIS and different I-20.

Now, my question is: If I have already paid the $200 fee under a different SEVIS do I have to pay the fee again because I was a continuing student under a different SEVIS? I read information on getting it transferred to another SEVIS. Can anyone help me out -- I do not want to lengthen this and wait around till my DSO gets back to me?

Thanks.