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.