Exchange student Miroo Kim, center, of South Korea, is seen with other students at the Harrisburg Academy in Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania. In 2007, the United States issued a record number of student and exchange visitor visas, reversing a drop in student and other visa applications after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
|
|
|
Washington -- In 2007, the Department
of State issued a record number of student and exchange visitor
visas -- more than 600,000 -- greater than 10 percent more
than last year. The numbers are proof of the success of the
U.S. government’s effort to reverse the drop in student
and other visa applications after the terrorist attacks of
September 11, 2001, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for
Consular Affairs Maura Harty told USINFO.
“For the last several years, we have
been working very hard to address that turnaround and in
no category have we been more active than in attracting
foreign students,” she said.
Speaking at the end of International Education
Week, a joint initiative of the U.S. departments of State
and Education, Harty said that “the best advertisement
for America is America.” She said having foreign students
in the United States is a matter of national security because
academic visitors are the United States’ potential
friends, allies and business partners.
“If they come to America … they
will learn everything they possibly can about our culture,
our people, our academic institutions. They’ll see
the free lifestyle of the American college campus. They’ll
have a chance to challenge themselves and grow in ways informed
by what they learn about American society,” Harty
said.
More than 200 alumni of U.S. exchange programs
have become heads of foreign states or influential leaders
in their own countries, according to State Department data.
They include the presidents of Bangladesh, Indonesia and
the Philippines and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
REGRETTABLE PERCEPTION
Harty agreed that the “regrettable
perception” that the events of September 11, 2001,
made the U.S. visa process more cumbersome was correct in
the immediate aftermath of the attacks. But she said the
“horror stories” of endless waits for name checks
are a matter of the past. About 97 percent of people who
are told their applications have been approved get their
visas within two or three days, she said.
Since September 11, 2001, the United States
had to put in place more stringent security measures. “At
the same time, we’ve worked hard over the past years
to streamline procedures and make the visa application process
easier and more efficient,” Harty said.
“I regret that some people are hearing
the old stories and applying them to the current situations,”
she said.
The State Department also has made an effort
to “demystify” the visa process, Harty said.
Both the United States government and every U.S. embassy
have special Web sites with information about the required
documents, how far in advance an applicant can schedule
an appointment for an interview and what to expect during
that interview with a consular official.
In many countries, students can make interview
appointments online, and they are usually put in the front
of the line. “We won’t have a student miss their
first day of class because we could not get them an appointment
in time,” Harty said.
NOT A “GOTCHA” GAME
To qualify for a student visa, students
must show three things: that they are genuine students enrolled
in an American college or university; that they have sufficient
funds to pay for their first year of study; and that they
intend to return to their home country when they finish
their education.
“We do need the applicants to explain
to us why they want to study in America and … how
their course of study in America is going to be applied
in their life when they return to their country,”
Harty said.
People who have been rejected multiple times
should pay attention to what they were told during their
visa interviews and think about whether their circumstances
have changed before applying again, Harty said.
She stressed, however, that consular officials
are not deliberately looking for reasons to reject visa
applicants. “Put your mind at ease,” she advised
students preparing for their interview. “It is not
about ‘gotcha.’ We are not finding a way to
refuse you because that is what we want to do. We are finding
a way to identify as many legitimate travelers as we can
and to facilitate their travel to the United States,”
she said.
Harty, who traveled recently to Egypt, Jordan
and Israel to meet with potential student visitors and their
parents, said she carried the following message: “The
welcome mat is out. If you haven’t checked in with
us in a while, try us. You’ll like us. America is
open to you and to your ideas and we welcome all legitimate
travel to this country.”
For more information, see Study
in the U.S./Education.
Information on U.S. visas and travel to
the United States is available on the Web sites of all U.S.
embassies and on the State Department’s http://travel.state.gov/
and http://www.unitedstatesvisas.gov/
Web sites.
Jaroslaw Anders /
USINFO Staff Writer
###
