INS ruling could affect IU students

The events of Sept. 11 have spurred Immigration and Naturalization Services to change many visa policies, potentially affecting thousands of students who come to the U.S. without a student visa.\nThe changes come in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks and the bungling of several cases by the INS, including the automatic mailing of final visa status change notification to the flight school that trained Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi, two of the suspected terrorists who perished in the attacks.\nThe proposed INS changes will require foreign nationals who wish to study at U.S. universities to acquire student visas before entering schools. Foreign students will not be able to change the status of visitor or business visas to student once in the country. The proposed changes also shorten visa length from six months to 30 days for travel and business. \nNone of the proposed changes will require congressional approval. The provision affecting students goes into effect immediately, but the other changes are active after a 30 day public comment period. \n"These new rules strike the appropriate balance between INS' mission to ensure that our nation's immigration laws are followed and stop illegal immigration and our desire to welcome legitimate visitors to the United States," INS Commissioner James Ziglar said in a press release. "While we recognize that the overwhelming majority of people who come to the United States as visitors are honest and law abiding, the events of Sept. 11 remind us that there will always be those who seek to cause harm."\nThe INS said it would process requests for status change within 30 days so it does not affect students currently in the U.S.\nIn an interview with the Washington Post, Victor Johnson, associate executive director for public policy of the American Association of International Educators, said there are no problems with the proposed changes, provided INS honors their promise to process status changes rapidly.\n"The plan will succeed if they follow through on their commitment in 30 days," he said. "But the INS doesn't do anything in 30 days."\nAssociate dean of International Programs Ken Rogers said it is too early to determine whether or not the new ruling will affect international enrollment at IU. He said there are currently over 4,000 foreign students at all IU campuses, with over 3,200 at IU Bloomington.\n"There is a possibility that this could affect international enrollment," he said. "No one has a crystal ball, but the new procedures and requirements for visas could result in fewer students in coming not only to IU, but to colleges nationwide."\nRogers said despite the new restrictions the U.S. is the country of choice for international students.\n"World wide demand for higher education is causing a rise in international applications," he said. "Some colleagues of mine say demand is so strong that the number of international students will hold steady despite the new restrictions."\nRogers said international students wanting to study in the U.S. will have to apply for their student visas in their home country because government policy has changed the procedure to apply for student visas. It will now be nearly impossible to change from B1 or B2 (travel and business) to F (student) visas while in the U.S.\nHe also said visa applications are taking much longer than they used to, especially for students from "terrorist states."\nThe IU Bloomington admissions office Web site advises potential international students to contact the U.S. Consulate early in case their security screening takes longer than anticipated. \nIn an interview with the Washington Post, Angela Kelley, the deputy director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigrants rights group, said the proposals are a "mixed bag."\n"Some of these are common-sense measures, but others can have far reaching consequences," she said.\nRogers said the new procedures put into place are understandable, but need to be modified.\n"I understand the reasoning behind stricter regulations in the light of the horror of Sept. 11," he said. "However, a more humane, simple system needs to be enacted because it is much more difficult to obtain student visas for legitimate studies."\nRogers said one of the consequences of the restrictions could be more international students applying to schools in the United Kingdom and Australia. Both countries have less stringent, simpler systems for visa applications.\n"The moment of truth will be in August of 2002," he said. "That is when we take in most of the international students. If the new legal requirements have any effect, this is when we will see them"