Last Oct. 3, Congress voted to tighten security around the country and to restrict the issuance of student visas. Because of the new restrictions, many international students are being forced to abandon or postpone their studies.
University of Wisconsin-Madison has more than 3,200 international students from more than 100 countries, which is nearly 8 percent of the student body. This is the third largest number of international students among American universities, according to the International Student Services website.
The international population is now under threat by a new act passed by Congress. The act states that U.S. consulates in 26 countries will do FBI-supported background checks for all male applicants ages 16-45, which could take 6-8 weeks per individual.
Some of the countries included on this list are Afghanistan, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Students from the 26 countries on the list will find it even more difficult to enter and leave the United States, and in many cases, students are not being allowed to return to America to study.
UW graduate student Kamalavasan Srinivasan said he has noticed a change over the past year.
“Last year, there were no problems, but now it is pretty strict,” Srinivasan said. “I know a couple of friends in India whose friends got rejected for no good reason. They were all in good financial shape and had all of the proper paperwork from their universities, yet they were denied visas that normally would not have been a problem.”
The current program which issues student visas has been in place for 50 years; a recent proposal has it slated to upgrade from paper to electronic tracking by January 2003. The computer database will be used to monitor foreign students more closely.
Sheila Spear, director of International Student Services for UW, said she feels the electronic system is not the problem; her concern is the difficulty students are having receiving visas.
“Of all the international visitors, only 2 percent of the entire visitor population are international students,” Spear said. “If the concern is preventing terrorists from entering the U.S., targeting student visas should be a minor concern because a student visa is one of the most complicated ways of entering the country.”
Firca Firca, a UW senior from Indonesia, said he is concerned about returning home now that the security is so tight but feels it is understandable for Americans to be worried.
“Because of the terrorist attacks, I think it is acceptable for the U.S. to do this,” Firca said.
Not all students are so understanding, though. UW alumnus Houssain Kettani, a Moroccan citizen, disagrees with the new restrictions.
“We are supposed to be guests in the country, and this does not follow the expected rules of hospitality,” Kettani said. “The attacks do not justify targeting innocent students.”
