Salam,
Saya sampaikan konfirmasi berita dari Chronicle of
Higher Education yang sebelumnya pernah saya sampaikan.
Jabat erat,
Ahmad Syamil
Jonesboro, AR
Friday, November 30,
2001
U.S. State Department Bars Foreign Students From Renewing Their Visas in
Canada or Mexico
By
SARA HEBEL
Washington
Foreign students studying in the United States are being temporarily
prohibited from renewing their visas in Canada and Mexico if they are not
citizens of those countries. The practice of doing so has been popular with some
foreigners who want to change their visa status quickly or who need to renew
their visas, which can only be done outside the United States.
Some campus officials who work with international students say the policy
change -- which the U.S. State Department announced on November 19 -- has led
them to advise some students whose visas have expired to cancel holiday trips
home this year or to forgo other travels, such as those to academic conferences
overseas.
These students, who otherwise might have filed a new visa application in
Canada or Mexico, may not be able to renew their visas in their home countries
quickly enough to allow them to re-enter the United States in time for their
classes, the campus officials say. Foreign students had been allowed to set an
appointment time with officials in Canada and Mexico to renew their visas,
making the process more efficient in those countries. Students from some
countries -- such as China, Korea, and India, where there is a perception that
U.S. visas are growing harder to get -- are worried that they would be denied a
new visa if they have to go home to reapply.
"Midyear travel, if you need a new visa, is very insecure," said Jerry D.
Wilcox, director of the international office at the University of Texas at
Austin. "Everything is up in the air as to how fast you can get processed."
Since September 11, State Department officials have announced that some
applicants for U.S. visas will face additional processing requirements and
security-clearance checks. Because those procedures may delay the issuance of
some nonimmigrant visas for students and workers, State Department officials
were worried that applicants could become "marooned for a lengthy period of
time" in Canada or Mexico if they did not issue the new policy preventing
individuals from seeking new visas there.
A State Department official emphasized on Thursday that the new prohibition
was "very temporary." The official said the department expected to lift it once
additional measures are in place to prevent terrorists from entering the United
States.
Campus officials who work with international students said they felt that,
even though the new rules are inconvenient for students, the department was
acting responsibly. Federal officials were smart, they said, to prevent students
from being trapped in other countries and to temporarily plug a potential hole
in national security.
"The State Department is trying to walk a very fine line of doing their part
to address security measures while at the same time wanting to keep open
positive relations with other countries, and to help the United States remain
open as a country," said Susan J. D'Amico, the associate director of the
international services office at George Washington University.
The campus officials, though, said some of the new immigration guidelines are
vague, causing broader concerns about obstacles any foreign student traveling to
Canada or Mexico for any reason might face.
Under a process known as "automatic revalidation," foreign students and other
nonimmigrants who are living in the United States with expired visas have been
able to re-enter the United States from Canada and Mexico -- and in some cases,
certain Caribbean countries -- without renewing their visas, as long as they
were in good standing with United States officials when they left and had been
gone for no more than 30 days.
But the officials said federal guidelines have not been clear about whether
the extra security clearances now required of some individuals might prevent
some students who travel to Canada or Mexico from re-entering the United States
without reapplying for a visa. Those students, too, then could get stuck in
those countries, the campus officials worried.
Mr. Wilcox said he also has concerns about the general direction of recent
immigration rules for students. He fears that they could end up providing a
disincentive for foreigners studying on American campuses to ever return home or
take a job there. "You are scaring people to say good-bye forever to their
families," he said.