U.S. may target student visas

By Sridhar Krishnaswami

WASHINGTON, OCT. 1. Even as the U.S. Justice Department is seeking far-reaching changes in the law to go after terrorists and their network, there is apprehension in some quarters that one of the negative implications is going to be in the realm of student visas.

Neither the Federal Bureau of Investigation nor the Justice Department has asked for anything direct and specific on the student visas front, but there are moves in Congress to target this category for a ban of up to six months. Even critics of the Immigration and Naturalisation Service are arguing that this is a step in the right direction, and that it did not go far enough.

Surprisingly at a time when leading Democrats on Capitol Hill are raising their voices against the sweeping changes sought by the Republican administration on the Anti- Terrorism Bill, a senior Democrat is pushing for a six-month ban on the student visas, but in a fashion that would not affect international students currently enrolled.

``The foreign student visa programme is one of the most unregulated and exploited visa categories,'' argues the Democratic Senator from California, Ms. Diane Feinstein, prime mover of the temporary student visa ban.

``This (plan) may be controversial but there has to be recognition that this is an unprecedented time in our country, and our national security depends on our system functioning to ensure that terrorists do not take advantage of the vulnerabilities in the student visa programme,'' she says.

The interest in a temporary ban on student visas which will hit countries such as India, China and Japan very much follows the revelation that a hijacker of the plane which rammed the Pentagon had came to the country on a student's visa but had never enrolled in a college in Oakland, California. Authorities started zeroing in on foreign students since the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center when one of those involved was on a student visa.

The U.S. is home to about 600,000 foreign students. But it is not a one-way street. Several departments and graduate programmes in this country will be financially affected if foreign students did not enrol and pay the full tuition, including the out-of-state fee. And many universities actively go on recruitment drives overseas, with one of the themes being that diversity on the campus goes about to enrich not only the university or the college but also the U.S.

In the aftermath of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, authorities, including the Immigration and Naturalisation Service, saw the need for an elaborate database system that would track the movement of every foreign student who has been issued a visa, enters the country and registers; and keep watch if and when a student moves within the country on transfers or higher studies.

The universities complained about the system, among other things, pointing to the high costs involved. Ultimately, it was hoped that a national database would be in place by 2003. But political attempts to have the system scrapped has stopped in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

It remains to be seen as to what extent Senator Feinstein is going to succeed in her six month moratorium of student visas. Undoubtedly there will be objections, especially from the campuses which will be financially hit. But the bigger fear is that the targeting of foreign students will eventually be extended to those entering the country on Exchange Visitors Programme.

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Section  : International
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