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07 October 2004

Senators Review U.S. Visa Policies

Lawmakers, educators discuss effect on international students, researchers

By Anthony Kujawa
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Praising the contributions of international students at U.S. universities, prominent senators say they are determined to ensure U.S. visa policy does not hinder legitimate educational exchange.

At an October 6 Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, lawmakers and representatives of U.S. universities agreed high international student presence on U.S. campuses is in the nation's interest and that the twin goals of U.S. visa policy -- secure borders and open doors -- must be achieved.

International educators charged that some post-9/11 U.S. visa policies intended to bolster security have made obtaining a student visa "inefficient, lengthy and opaque," reduced the number of foreign student applications to the United States and made it more difficult for U.S. colleges to compete with other nations for students. Educators warned visa requirements must not become a "roadblock" to U.S. higher education and said ensuring the United States is a "destination of choice" for students from other countries is integral to national security and should be a U.S. priority.

International student enrollments at universities in countries such as Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom increased by 10, 15, and 23 percent, respectively, from 2002 to 2003. According to the Institute of International Education's "Open Doors 2003" report, the number of international students studying in the United States increased by 0.6 percent for the 2003-2004 academic year, following increases of 6.4 percent in the 2001-2002 and 2002-2003 academic years.

Commenting the increased competition from those countries, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard G. Lugar said the United States must "do everything it can" to reduce unnecessary delays in evaluating and processing student visas in order to help U.S. universities to remain competitive. He noted that the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs is now adjudicating student visa applications "more efficiently" than when new security procedures first took effect.

Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee proposed that the Senate convene a roundtable meeting of international educators and administration officials in 2004 in order to identify specific administrative and legislative actions that could create a more efficient and secure visa process.

University of Maryland President C.D. Mote told lawmakers intense competition for students, difficulties in obtaining a visa, and efforts of other nations to "stop brain drain" and keep students in their own country, are three compounding factors that have led to a significant decrease in applications at his university -- down 36 percent since 2002.

Mote described the university's technical training programs that have brought over 200 managers since 1995 from Jiangsu Province in China for training on economics, commerce, governance, democracy and political-justice systems. However, in 2004, a group scheduled to participate in an economics training course has experienced delays in visa processing, he said.

"What is the cost to the United States to put barriers up on programs like this that give us the opportunity to win friends and export democratic values?" Mote asked the lawmakers.

"We cannot play into our decline by turning away the best and the brightest from our schools. To remain competitive in the coming decades, we must continue to embrace the most capable students and scholars of other countries. Our security and quality of life depend on it," he said.

Other educators echoed Mote's concerns.

"Security versus exchange is a false dichotomy," added the executive director of the Association of International Educators (NAFSA), Marlene Johnson, who urged that the U.S. visa system improve national security, both by denying access to those who seek entry to do the United States harm and by facilitating access for legitimate education exchange that serves the national interest.

"Our current visa system maximizes neither our safety nor our long-term national interests in scientific exchange and in educating successive generations of world leaders -- interests that the United States has recognized for more than half a century," said Johnson.

The educators laid out several specific recommendations to improve the student-visa process, including: providing more effective policy guidance to consular officials, focusing resources more effectively on applicants who require special screening, avoiding repetitive processing of frequent visitors and students that temporarily leave the United States, instituting standard guidelines for interagency reviews of visa applications, and providing adequate resources for consular affairs function in line with the increased scrutiny of visa applications that Congress demands.

The educators said they were working closely with the Bush administration, particularly the departments of State and Homeland Security, to implement these reforms and improve the student visa-issuance process.

Nonetheless, many of the educators complained that scarce resources are wasted on routine reviews of low-risk visa applications. NAFSA's Johnson said the State Department has made progress in speeding up clearances under the "MANTIS" security review for scientists, but that concerns regarding visa "CONDOR" program which requires additional checks for visa applications determined to be "high risk."

"Our friends in the region [Middle East] tell us constantly of their extreme concern that we are cutting off access to an American education for a whole generation of
future Middle Eastern leadership," said Johnson. "Few things could be more short-sighted."

Discussing the importance of international students to U.S. campuses and communities, the president of Purdue University, Marin Jischke, said that international students help prepare U.S. students to interact with a wide variety of people and cultures and "break down stereotypes and misinformation that are the breeding grounds of intolerance."

Jischke said that Jordan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Marwan Jamil Muasher, a Purdue University graduate, noted during a recent address that 50 percent of the Jordanian cabinet is U.S.-educated. This has promoted understanding and better relations between the United States and Jordan, he said.

Indiana University President Adam Herbert added that friendships formed between U.S. and international students are "natural bridges for crossing the cultural divides that too often separate people and nations."

"Too many intellectual ties that cross borders and unite peoples are being severed," said Herbert. "We must return the United States to its pre-eminence in international education."

"I think this is a national security issue that will take its toll 20 years from now," added Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. "The seeds that fail to plant today, the seeds that we are failing to plant today, will have direct impact on the ability we have to work with other nations and other leaders who should be our friends and should be schooled here."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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