(KRT) TALLAHASSEE, Fla.-International students at Florida State University say a new process that keeps track of foreign students is too rigid. Administrators say modernizing the process is necessary, but transition is difficult.
The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) has been changed from a manual, paper-driven process to an automated Web-based system. It’s supposed to make reporting information about foreign students to the INS more efficient. Schools must be approved by the INS to use the new system by Feb. 15, a deadline that was extended from Jan. 30.
“It’s going to be more difficult for international students,” said Jean Chamoun, a doctoral candidate at FSU from Lebanon. “It was not like it was easy before. It’s more strict now.”
The government has been placing more emphasis on homeland security since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. International students are being scrutinized because three of the hijackers involved in the attacks were on student visas.
“After Sept. 11, we’re going to do what needs to be done, ” said Eva Wanton, associate vice president for academic affairs at Florida A&M University. “We need to have a better way of tracking who is here and where they are and also the length of their stay. Paperwork is good, but the computer is phenomenal. We can store so much more information in the click of a button.”
The system still seems to be evolving, said Roberta Christie, director of FSU’s International Center. Proposed rules came out in the early fall, and when the final rules came out in December, there had been significant changes, she said. And the schools aren’t being given much time to implement them. The urgency in how they are being imposed has been difficult, Christie said.
“Our sense is that they’re still looking at it, and we’re not relaxing,” she said.
The possibility of more changes to the new system makes FSU student Ling Toh nervous.
“I have a few questions about travel in the summer because this is in transition,” said Toh, a doctoral candidate from Malaysia. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s unsettling in that sense.”
Schools will report the same biographical, academic and employment information as before. One difference is that they’ll now have to report detailed biographical information about dependents.
“SEVIS is a very unforgiving and inflexible system right now,” Joy Ira, FSU’s SEVIS coordinator, said at a recent briefing for international students. “There’s very little wiggle room for reinstatement.”
Students may have to seek reinstatement after breaking rules, such as having unauthorized employment or not taking a full course load.
International students and scholars represent only 2 percent of people who use visas to come to the United States, Christie said.
“It’s a lot of effort to track a very small percentage of people who are entering the country,” she said.
Although the change and deadlines are rigid to many, one FSU student said he doesn’t feel singled out by the new process and understands the need for it.
“I think it’s essential for any country to be assured of security,” said Harshal Kshirsagar, a doctoral candidate from India. “The [International] Center is doing enough to inform students. Toward the beginning it will be difficult. Once it’s settled, I’m hopeful we won’t have many hurdles to overcome.”
c 2003, Tallahassee Democrat (Tallahassee, Fla.).
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