Visa power: Students hardest hit as US goes tough on regulations

Academicians say the harsh measures were required, but are happy that Bush has not gone to the extent of imposing a six-month hiatus on admissions to foreign students

Sujeet Rajan

New York: Getting a student visa to the US has been a nerve-wracking process for most students in India: one waits for hours outside the gates of a US consulate and ends with an often lengthy and tough interrogation by a visa officer who, till the minute he or she stamps the passport, seems undecided whether to oblige or refuse.

Now, thousands of students who got their visas stamped for the first time and entered the country in late August and early September to attend Fall classes, are thanking their stars for making it at the right time. For those on the other side, waiting to get in, there is bad news. President George Bush has tightened visa restrictions for, among others, students, and ordered a thorough review of how such visas are granted and why.

The Indian Express had reported, a few weeks ago, how many leaders and officials in the US have been calling for a strict overview of student visa regulations and suggesting measures like a six-month moratorium on student visas. Bush did not go to that extreme last week in signing a new law though, but nevertheless, singled out student visas in his speech, saying that authorities would try in the near future to track the activities of international students who arrive in the country to attend classes, but never actually did so.

‘‘We’re going to start asking a lot of questions that heretofore have not been asked. I’m going to tighten up the visa policies,’’ Bush said, in his speech last week, at the White House. ‘‘We’re generous with our universities, we’re generous with our job opportunities... never did we realize then that people would take advantage of our generosity to the extent they have.’’

Bush’s move on visa restrictions has been, to a large extent, prompted by the fact that two of the terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks, including Mohammed Atta, who rammed a plane into the WTC Towers, had entered the US on a student visas.

The new laws come into effect immediately and would be overseen by Attorney General John Ashcroft and Homeland Security Director Thomas J. Ridge. Around 30 million non-citizens cross the US borders every month.

Visa consulates around the world will thoroughly scrutinize students’ credentials. Many educationists and immigration experts feel that visa officers would, in all probability, be stamping the visas of only those students who have scholarships and teaching assistantships and show exceptional prowess in their field of advanced study. But many average students, who may have the inclination to study here with the requisite private financial backing, might face gruelling sessions with visa officers and, in all probability, be denied entry, at least in the near future.

Academicians said the harsh measures were required in the present exceptional circumstances but were happy that Bush had not gone to the extent of giving in to the demand for moratorium — something that could have deprived the universities of not only quality students for their teaching fellowships, but also forced them to cut down on educational measures for lack of revenue.

‘‘Universities are also going to be careful in giving admissions and I-20 forms to students, who come here on tourist visas, and then try to stay on by taking admissions in colleges and universities,’’ said an Indian American professor in New York. ‘‘But the universities (in the US) make good money from international students. Some universities who have a large base of international students are going to be badly hit,’’ he said.

Some educators say they support Bush’s initiative to be careful in safeguarding the country’s interests, but feel that it’ll not really solve all the issues behind terrorism.

Carlene Johnson, executive director of the Association of International Educators, which promotes exchanges of students and scholars, in an interview to The Washington Post recently, in reaction to the signing of the new bill by Bush, said that her group would support inquiries into the validity of student visa requests. But she added, ‘‘It is not good for the country to think that this will solve the intelligence issues, which are clearly at the root of terrorism.’’

Immigration experts say that as a way to track foreigners, including students when they enter the country, identification requirements for visa seekers should be strengthened. This could be achieved by recording a visitor’s fingerprints or other physical characteristics, known as biometrics. Biometric identification would tie visa applicants to a single identity and a single passport.

However, the visa restrictions and the resultant background checking, including biometric identification, could have repercussions on some students who try to seek employment in the country: biometric identity checks, if linked to employment, could eventually lead to profiling by the INS. Even before September 11, many experts had felt that Indian immigration to the US was going to fall drastically in the next three years with the slowdown in the technology sector.

The new visa restrictions are a further blow to the aspirations of those who try to join life here.

However, some experts also feel that the exceptional visa restrictions, something that was last seen in 1996 after the Oklahoma City bombings, is not here to stay for ever.

‘‘The US government needs foreign labour and students to add value to their life,’’ said Anand Ahuja, an immigration and foreign trade expert on the Wall Street, recently. ‘‘If not computers, then it will be the biotech industry where the rage will be on. Students in fields where the US needs them, will not be stopped.’’