Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Flight Instructor; Flight Crew Commercial
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 92; Flight Crew Total 766.8; Flight Crew Type 83.2
Confusion; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural FAR
Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Human Factors
I am a Flight Instructor at a university; upon the start of a new semester we received our new students. I began checking documents and TSA currencies of all my new students. I received my first international student and was new to the restrictions and requirements of the alien TSA. [We use a] program to monitor student currencies and hard stops are placed in the computer to prevent us from flying when anything has expired. When looking in [the system; a student's] alien TSA was not going to expire until the end of [the next month]. Thinking the currency was still valid we went on his first flight in the Instrument course. It was not until after the flight that I realized that the notes within the currency stated the currency was only valid for his prior flight commercial course and that the alien TSA was not valid for the instrument course. I believe the cause of the problem was not being familiar with the alien TSA as much as I should have been as it is my responsibility as a CFI; to prevent a reoccurrence I have educated myself on the alien TSA process and [the university] will not assign any instructor until the student has already gone through the TSA process fully before getting an instructor and starting the new course.
A Flight Instructor reported a misunderstanding with the alien TSA requirements related to an international student beginning an instrument course when only approved for a commercial course.