University of Wisconsin officials were expecting hundreds of international students to be held up at the United States border by the federal government, but relatively few students will arrive late to classes.

Judy Brodd, director of UW International Student Services, said even though the potential for delays could have numbered in the hundreds with more than 4,300 international students and staff attending UW, just 41 people have been delayed.

“We really had no idea how difficult or how many students would be delayed,” Brodd said, “But I think it is much fewer what it could have been.”

The delays are the result of new requirements by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security that require all students pursuing a student visa to have face-to-face interviews with consulates. These interviews must take place within 60 days of a student’s departure, and the student must obtain a visa within 30 days of departure.

U.S. officials planned the new requirements before Sept. 11 but put them on the fast track after the government reported that at least 13 of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers did not have these interviews.

UW spokesman John Lucas said UW expected severe complications with late teaching assistants and students.

“There were not nearly the amount of problems we were expecting,” Lucas said. “Things are going a lot smoother than we first thought.”

Of the 41 students held up by federal consulates, all but nine are from China.

“There’s always been a high rate of visa denial in China,” Brodd said. The reason, she said, is that many consulates think students who leave the country with a visa will never return to China and will stay in America for the rest of their lives.

“Consulates normally ask to see any ties to their home country,” Brodd said. “Evidence of a job waiting for them, family and property show a student’s desire to return.”

Consulates are also wary of students conducting a lot of research due to concerns about giving international students access to information that could threaten national security. Students conducting a lot of research set off a technology alert list at the consulate’s office, but UW readily provides paperwork assuring the necessity of a student’s work.

With approximately 1,000 new international students registered to start classes every year, UW tried to reach international students via e-mail and started a website with extensive information about the delays and the steps students should take to quickly complete federal surveillance regulations.

The International Student Services group is trying to advise international students through the visa process to minimize delays. Brodd said the ISS has created a checklist that might be useful to international students and hired a student employee to help international students once they arrive.

UW officials said one reason for UW’s lack of delayed international students is the preparedness and fast reaction of the university.

“I think we reached every single (international) student that we know of,” Brodd said. Brodd went on to say that she believes UW is the only campus she knows of that has gone this far to help international students.