For most Wesleyan students, college life is a mere bus or airplane ride away. For a select group of international students, however, entry into the country and the institution is a time-consuming struggle to prove their good intentions to a suspicious government.
On Oct. 29, 2001 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a statement promising to reform abuses of International Student Status. In this statement, the Bush administration vowed to “prohibit certain international students from receiving education and training in sensitive areas, including areas of study with direct application to the development and use of weapons of mass destruction” and to “prohibit the education and training of foreign nationals who would use such training to harm the United States or its Allies.”
In another statement, however, federal government officials said that, “International students add greatly to the vitality and quality of our nation’s colleges, universities and other institutions of learning.”
Marina Melendez, director of Graduate Student Services at the University, who handles the immigration problems of international students, described the federal government’s policy as one of “safe borders, open doors,” a concept which she called paradoxical. “There’s tension between protecting ourselves and making people feel welcome,” she said.
Bulgarian student Radoslava Petrova ’07 said that she missed the International Student Orientation (ISO) because the consulate was not willing to grant her an interview before her expected date of arrival. On the day of her interview, she said, she had to wait six hours in front of the consulate before meeting with an official.
According to Melendez, there is a correlation between students’ troubles with visas and their nations’ political relationships with the U.S. The expiration date of visas can range from several years to three months, depending on the nation’s standing with the U.S. China, for example, is one country whose visas in the U.S. expire after three months.
The tension underlying this policy, Melendez said, does not rest solely with the U.S. Following a policy of reciprocity, the U.S. government has decided to make the expiration date of Chinese visas contingent upon the length of U.S. visas in China. The length of time for such visas is also three months.
Students from “unfriendly” nations are often subject to a process known as Special Registration. By law, immigrants from these countries must be fingerprinted and photographed at their port of entry and are closely monitored while in the United States. These people may only exit and enter the country through certain airports. They must also report to a designated office thirty days after arrival and once every year.
The process for securing an F-1 visa is often arduous. Students of all kinds must interview with officials at the U.S. consulates, who hold all decisive power in matters of immigration. According to Melendez, the system is biased in favor of graduate students. “Undergraduates are young, not settled, not set up,” she said. “It is more difficult for them to obtain visas.”
According to some international students, there is also a correlation between gender and the amount of time one must wait before receiving a visa. Satyawidya Wulansari ’07, from Indonesia, said that females receive visas in three days whereas males must wait over a month.
Aldo Tedjomoeljono ’07, from Indonesia, spoke of difficulties similar to those of Petrova. “They didn’t care if I told them I had to be in the U.S. by [a certain date],” he said. Like Petrova, he also reported spending almost a full day at the consulate before finally checking out. Tedjomoeljino also complained of “irreverent” staff members and expressed some offense at the background check imposed on him. “It took them forever to discover that I wasn’t a terrorist,” he said.
Perhaps the most well-known case of a Wesleyan student’s delayed entry to the United States due to Visa problems is that of Joel Ting ’07. Ting, who missed last fall’s semester, learned that he was not allowed to immigrate from Malaysia to the United States six weeks after he was told he would receive a visa. “They told me ‘something new has come up,’” he said in a written statement. Ting, who applied for a visa in early June 2002, did not receive one until December.
According to Melendez, citizenship in a country deemed friendly by the U.S. does not guarantee an easy immigration process. The U.S. government also considers a person’s previous travel experience and possible overseas associations with unfriendly nations. “It’s not only where you’re from but what you’ve been doing,” she said. “An English student is just as likely to be seen as suspicious if he spent three months studying in Iraq. My question is: Who’s going to be on the list next?”
Melendez was especially critical of the practice of fingerprinting. “If there is no controversy, what will happen is that every U.S. consulate will require fingerprints,” Melendez said. “Soon it won’t just be unfriendly governments if this country stays in this mode of thinking. And we have the election of 2004 coming up so that’s quite possible.”
The University has been instrumental in renewing many international students’ expired visas. Faculty members correspond with consulates and embassies; write letters to Representative Rosa DeLauro and negotiate with the local media for publicity. Melendez also advises students on how to prevent such situations in the first place. One of her primary pieces of advice is to renew a visa over the summer, when there is more time for processing and negotiating if necessary.
International students at Wesleyan have expressed mixed attitudes toward the Bush administration’s policies regarding immigration. “It [Special Registration] is an inconvenience, but I understand why it needs to be done so I just have to comply with the regulations,” Ting said.
Other students are more skeptical of these regulations.
“[Indonesia’s relationship with the U.S.] has not been good, probably because there are some Muslim terrorists in my country,” Tedjomoeljono said. “So the United States is cautious about letting Indonesian citizens into the country.” He added that during visits to the embassy, however, he met several people who intended to work and stay in the U.S. and didn’t experience the same difficulties that he did.
“I couldn’t stop wondering, ‘How can these kinds of people escape the inspection?’” Tedjomoeljono said. “This brings into question the practice of the new U.S. security system under Bush’s regime.”
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