U.S. govt rethinks student visas

U.S. govt rethinks student visas

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Alarmed by the slump in the number of visa applications,
especially for education, a U.S. State Department spokesperson
said on Friday that it had streamlined its visa application
procedures.

Special assistant to the assistant secretary for consular
affairs at the U.S. Department of State, Susan Jacobs, said that
the streamlining was aimed at providing effective and efficient
service for those who planned to attend American universities.

"For a student, what you have to do is show up on any day, for
example you call on Monday and come up the next day for
interview," Jacobs told a press briefing at the U.S. Embassy
here.

She said that the procedures had been streamlined without
jeopardizing the country's homeland security.

However, regular travelers would still have to deal with
lengthy visa applications. "It takes longer if you are going on a
regular visits. There are so many people that are applying for
visas and there aren't enough council officers to do them all at
once, so there is a waiting list ... It will take about two
months now to get your appointment," she said, adding that the
procedures included the electronic copying of applicant's
fingerprints.

Following the 9/11 terrorist attack, the U.S. government
enacted extraordinary security measures within its boundaries,
putting a large number of people on its terrorist watchlists.

In September, Yusuf Islam, the British pop musician formerly
known as Cat Stevens, was denied entry to the U.S. after he was
suspected of being a financial supporter of groups believed to be
linked to terrorism.

The stepped-up security measures have also taken their toll,
causing a steady decline in the number of students who wished to
study at U.S. universities, especially from Asia.

U.S. national statistics show that the number of foreign
scholars seeking to study in the United States, largely from
Asia, has declined significantly over the past two years because
they are being deterred by uncertainty over visas.

The Council of Graduate Studies, a Washington-based global
group engaged in graduate education, research scholarship, and
the preparation of candidates for advanced degrees, says 90
percent of U.S. schools surveyed experienced a decrease in
graduate school applications from international students this
year.

In a letter to the Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge,
Harvard President Lawrence Summers warned that if visa processes
remained complicated and mired in delay, the United States risked
losing some of its most talented scientists.

Summers warned that such complicated procedures jeopardized
the country's position at the forefront of technological
innovation.

Jacobs said that the application rate for students from
Indonesia was down very substantially from 2000 until now.

She said that people outside the U.S. had wrongly perceived
the stepped-up security measures to mean that the U.S. was
isolating itself from the rest of the world.

"America is a very welcoming country and encourages
businessman, and especially students, to come and attend our
universities and see what America is all about," she said.