thefacebook.comWhile many students at Washington University worry about catching a ride home or arriving at the airport on time, the University’s community of international students has dealt with more serious travel issues recently. Difficulties obtaining visas have prevented some international students from attending the University this semester.
Kathy Steiner-Lang, director of the Office for International Students and Scholars, said that while the delays sometimes affect students who are already enrolled at the University, new students are most often affected.
“It happens a lot,” said Steiner-Lang. “In the fall we had probably 300 or so international [graduate and undergraduate] students applying, and I would say more than half had some sort of lengthy process. It took from a couple of days to six weeks or longer.”
Freshman Natalie Woo should have been a member of the Class of 2007 but could not obtain her visa to travel to the United States from South Korea in time. She deferred her admission and started this semester.
“I applied to Wash U and got in last year,” said Woo. “I was supposed to come on a student visa like everyone else who’s an international student. But at the time I was also signed up to get a green card in the States and that clashed with my student visa application. It looks suspicious, I guess. Security has gotten a lot tighter after September 11.”
Helen Rhee, who should have been a sophomore at the University this year, agreed with Woo’s assessment. Also a Korea native, she was unable to receive her visa in time to return to the University this semester because of new procedures. Instead, she is studying in Barcelona, Spain.
“I came [back] to Korea to change my visa status,” Rhee wrote in an email. “After the tragedy of September 11, the U.S. government made it mandatory that all foreign students return to their home country in order to change their visa status or apply for a new visa. Previously, students could change their visas in the States.”
Rhee explained that she was able to study at the University last year under her parents’ visa, and did not have to go to the Korean Embassy for a personal interview at that time because her parents had already gone.
Woo, however, was called in for an interview with a representative at the Embassy. One week later she was called back and informed she would not be receiving her student visa.
“They said I should wait till my green card comes out and go to the States on that, which is ridiculous because the average wait for getting a green card is a very long time,” Woo said.
Woo had applied for her green card when she was around 11 years old, and finally received it in November 2003, three months too late to begin her freshman year.
Steiner-Lang said that prolonged waiting periods for interviews contribute to many of the delays international students face.
“What we’ve seen is there are some students who have to do a personal interview, and there’s tight staffing,” she said. “It took a long time for them to get an interview, sometimes up to six weeks. In some cases they do some kind of second database check and it takes even longer. We had a postdoctoral student who waited six months [because] they forgot to send for a second check.”
While trying to obtain another visa this summer, Rhee was faced with a more complex interview process.
“I had my interview at the U.S. embassy in Korea,” she explained. “At my first interview in June, I had not provided enough documents [proving that I will] return to Korea after college graduation.”
Rhee was rejected because of this discrepancy. However, after submitting additional files that could “prove [she] had no strong intention to remain in the U.S. after graduation,” she was able to obtain a visa to return to the University next semester.
While both Rhee and Woo were sympathetic to the reasons for increased security and legalities in obtaining student visas, they feel that they were wrongly rejected in their respective situations.
“I can understand why they have such heavy security, and the hassle is fine, but when I provide all the documentation they need-bank account records, family history, a legal document from Wash. U. stating I’m going to be an undergraduate, everything they asked for-I don’t see why they had to reject me,” said Woo.
Rhee was at first “upset and frustrated” that she couldn’t get her visa in time to return to the University this semester; however, after considering the reasons behind the problems she faced, she became more understanding of the process.
“I am sad that I won’t be able to study this semester and see my friends,” Rhee wrote. “But I came to understand that even with all the complications involved in the visa process, it is understandable that U.S. government must act stricter [throughout this] process. Since [some of the terrorists associated with] the September 11 attacks had entered the U.S. with student visas, it makes sense that U.S. is putting stronger restrictions on incoming foreign students.”
Both Steiner and the U.S. Department of State have one warning for international students applying for visas: apply early.
According to the U.S. Department of State Web site, “June, July, and August are the busiest months in most consular sections, and interview appointments are most difficult to get during that period. Students need to plan ahead to avoid having to make repeat visits to the embassy.”
Woo has an additional piece of advice.
“I think people coming from overseas should know the whole process and what the consulates are looking out for,” she said. “Be informed of what you’re doing in the States, know what to mention and what not to. You shouldn’t just wander into an interview without any preparation.”