Thousands suffer delayed visas to visit U.S.

Thousands suffer delayed visas to visit U.S.

Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The U.S. policy of tightening visa procedures has caused
thousands of Indonesians, including students, to delay or even
drop their travel plans to the country.

Students are among those worst affected by the policy with
some of them failing to begin or continue their studies at
American universities because of denied or delayed visas.

Several students here, who wished to be anonymous, told The
Jakarta Post they could not attend scholarship programs for short
courses or study programs in the U.S. because their visa
applications were rejected.

One student said he would be excluded from the list of
scholarship winners to take a master's degree course at an
American university if the embassy again postponed his visa this
week.

"If my visa isn't done this week, I will certainly be unable
to get my scholarship," said the student, who declined to be
identified.

"I should have left for America by late August or early this
month," he added.

The scholarship recipient said he applied for a visa at the
U.S. embassy in July and was promised by consular officials that
he could pick it up a month later. But he still has not been
granted one.

"They have several times delayed my visa without giving clear
explanations," he added. "What makes me extremely concerned is an
uncertainty resulting from the delays. I can't plan anything. Now
I am in limbo."

He admitted he had to tender his resignation from his job at a
United Nations agency in Jakarta shortly after the U.S. embassy
approved his visa application in July.

Abang Edwin, 33, was another case. He was denied from
following his wife who will leave for New York next January to
study at a university there.

"My visa application was rejected directly when I submitted it
last month. And no clear reasons were given," he said.

Electoral reform activist Smita Notosusanto, herself a
doctoral candidate at a U.S. university, criticized the U.S.
government's move to "restrict" prospective travelers for
security reasons.

"It is against human rights. It violates the right of
individuals to travel anywhere freely," she added.

A spokesperson for the embassy acknowledged that the embassy
could not avoid the delays as it had been tightening security
checks for visa applicants wishing to visit the U.S. in order to
avert terrorist treats after the Sept. 11, 2001 tragedy.

But she denied that with the delays, the American government
was trying to limit the number of its foreign visitors from
Indonesia and other Muslim countries.

"We want to make sure and know who's coming to the U.S.," she
said.

She noted that as many as 2,500 Indonesians applying for visas
had suffered delays of two months or more.

"There are around 1,300 applicants we have already granted
visas to so far. But between 2,000 and 2,500 others have not yet
received theirs," she told the Post.

The spokesperson, who asked not to be named, expressed regret
over the delays but said she promised to cope with the problem
immediately, so any losses on the part of applicants could be
reduced.

"We are improving the system and hopefully visa applications
can be processed quickly in the future," she added.