Tough restrictions on student visas may be partially responsible for declining international student enrollment rates at the University, according to preliminary figures released by the University Office of Admissions.
International students applying for student visas nationwide are now being tracked in part by the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a Web-based program expected to be fully implemented by Jan. 30, 2003.
International students have been placed under increased scrutiny by U.S. governmental organizations after the discovery that one Sept. 11 hijacker, Hani Hanjour, used a student visa to enter the United States but failed to attend classes.
Director of International Student and Scholar Services Ginny Stark, said the University has a SEVIS implementation team that will collect information, such as the date students enroll in the school, student progress and student graduation dates.
SEVIS is a system that will allow academic institutions to share information about foreign students and their dependents with the State Department and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Congress passed legislation in May ordering the INS to do a better job of monitoring international students through the establishment of the SEVIS tracking system. Academic institutions are required to connect to the database by Jan. 30, 2003, or they will lose their ability to admit foreign students.
Stark said interim measures are being used by embassies and consulates abroad to monitor international students and scholars until SEVIS is completely established in January. One such measure is the Interim Student Exchange Authentication System, a Web-based system that requires U.S. universities to enter immigration data about the international students they have accepted so they can be tracked.
However, Stark said schools weren’t given prior knowledge of when or how to use ISEAS. As a result, some of the University’s newly admitted and returning international students had a hard time getting their visas, were delayed or weren’t allowed into the country at all.
“ISEAS Web-based infrastructure was not working in a way that U.S. embassies and consulates could access the system,” Stark said. “Without having confirmation on ISEAS, consulates wouldn’t issue student visas.”
Howard Hsia, a junior psychology major from Taiwan, said he encountered more obstacles to enter the country on a student visa this year. He said he had to wait in line two hours in order to get an interview with a consulate, and he was required to show more proof and was asked more questions regarding his eligibility to be an international student than in previous years.
Before the tightened inspection of applicants and the increased regulations on student visa procedures that caused headaches for people like Hsia, international students had fewer obstacles before entering the United States.
Typically, students were granted visas by presenting admissions papers and immigration documents from educational institutions at the U.S. Embassy in their home country. In an interview with a consulate official, students had to prove they met academic requirements, weren’t intending to become permanent residents and had sufficient resources to support themselves during the course of their studies.
Now, Stark said, students applying for visas are being screened more carefully, and once they enter the United States, they are being monitored more carefully.
Not all University international students have had problems.
Yumi Suzuki, a junior political science major from Tokyo, said acquiring a student visa was easy. She began the application process in late June or early July, and was able to mail the necessary paperwork to the embassy instead of appearing for a personal interview.
Suzuki’s student visa came in the mail three weeks later, and she arrived in the U.S. on Sept.12.
Stark said the increased difficulty of acquiring student visas might discourage international students from applying to the University.
“I think the perception of the difficulty may reduce the number of international students,” Stark said.
Stark said that while she understands the need for increased security, she said international students are being unfairly targeted for observation because they’re supposed to be in a specific location once in the United States.
“I think the U.S. is justified in being concerned about security, but I think also that student visas were unfairly targeted because they represent a small percentage of people from other countries in the U.S.,” said Stark.
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