New visa regulations affect IU students, interviews

Beginning August 1, all visa applicants will be required to go through a personal interview process before being allowed into the United States. This means all overseas students who want to attend IU must go through an interview at the U.S. Embassy in their own countries before they are granted a student visa.\nBefore this change, only a portion of the visa applicants were required to be interviewed. The new ruling by the State Department requires all applicants who are applying for a United States visa to be interviewed. \n"Most international students who want to come to the United States have to go through the interview anyway when they are applying for a student visa," said Lorenda Schrader, associate director for the advising office of international services. \nIncoming freshman Jimmy Soehartanto, who arrived in the United States in June from Indonesia, said the interview was not a difficult experience.\nBefore he could come here, Soehartanto said he had to go through an interview at the U.S. Embassy in Surabaya, Indonesia. While many Indonesian students have to wait one week to three months for their visa to be approved, Soehartanto said he got his in three hours.\n"I scheduled an appointment with the U.S. Embassy, and when I went to the embassy for the interview ... I was told that I got the visa and should return at 2 (p.m.) to get my visa," Soehartanto said. "I am lucky, I guess."\nSchrader said the new ruling does not affect most international students.\n"This ruling, however, will have an effect more on the international students coming from the European countries, as most European nationals do not have many requirements when applying for a U.S. visa to come to the United States," she said. \nWhen senior Chika Harada first came to the United States, she said she did not have a person-to-person interview at the U.S. Embassy in Osaka, Japan. She said all she needed was a visa application form, a passport and some documents that verified her financial status.\nSchrader said that about two weeks ago the State Department sent out a direction to her staff to make visa student applicants a priority because schools need to make sure the students get in the country in time for their studies. \nThis act was in response to a petition made by various councils, including the Association of American Universities and the American Council on Education, that asked Secretary of State Colin Powell to delay the new visa interview requirement, Schrader said. \n"We would not know the effect of this change until we start hearing from students, 'I couldn't get the visa on time, and can I get deferred into the next semester?'" she said. \nSchrader said the University experienced such incidents during the spring semester and last year when international students could not get their visas in time for the semester, particularly the students from Malaysia, because they had to go through a longer clearance process. \n"Students got to the University eventually, but it just took them a semester longer," Schrader said. \nShe also said there is a decrease in the number of international undergraduate students coming to IU and of international students signing up for English as a Second Language courses. However, Schrader said the overall number of international students has not been affected significantly since there has been an increase in the number of international graduate students.\nAnother upcoming change administered by the State Department is that all current international students have to be registered into the Students and Exchange Visitor Information System by August 1. \nSEVIS is an Internet-based software application being developed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service that will provide tracking and monitoring of non-immigrant students. The IU Office of International Services must put all international students data into the system as new students are already in the SEVIS system since registration is now required by the INS to get their visas.\nSenior Delandi Aryana Chandra, an Indonesian student, said he had heard of many rumors that Indonesian students who went back to Indonesia had little chance of coming back. \n"So long as we keep ourselves clean from any criminal activities while in the United States and have the complete set of documents that are necessary and obey the laws and regulations, we do not have to worry of being deported or rejected at the U.S. immigration," Chandra said. \nHe said he is going back to Jakarta this coming summer for vacation.\nIn March, Christopher J. Viers, the associate dean of international programs and director of the Office of International Services, sent an e-mail to all international students saying they had to carry their documents with them as required by the INS. Students who are involved with the authorities and caught without having the documents with them might be jailed or even face deportation. \n"I was told at the International Center that the law said that we need to bring our documents wherever we travel, and we were told that we should inform every international student who comes to the International Center," said Harada, who works at the Leo R. Dowling International Center. "However, I do not think that students will want to carry their original documents because it's too risky"