Students afraid to leave during break

Nearly every international student has heard the stories: Friends or acquaintances have gone back to their home countries to visit their families and were not allowed back into the United States to continue their education.\nRendy Schrader, associate director for advising of the Office of International Services, recounted a story about a Chinese student who returned home to visit her ailing parents with one year left in her degree. When she applied to get a visa to return, officials in the U.S. embassy denied her application, citing her recent divorce and saying she had no incentive to return to China after completing her degree.\n"And she's still home," Schrader said. "And the chances of her getting a visa to come back to complete that year don't look particularly good at the moment." Schrader is not allowed to release students' names without consent.\nBecause Chinese student visas are valid for only six months, if a student returns to China for any reason, the student must apply for a new visa and again go through the rigorous and time-consuming process of obtaining the right to study in the United States. This predicament is not unique to students from China, however.\nThe result is that international students now must weigh the possibility that if they return home to visit family or for any other reason, they may not be able to get back into the United States. These circumstances effectively force students to choose between their education and their family.\nAll applicants for student visas must undergo a 90-second interview at the U.S. consulate in their home country. These interviews were implemented as a result of post-Sept. 11 security measures, and they prevent many students from returning to the United States or coming to this country for the first time.\nIU President Adam Herbert questioned the need for these interviews, especially for students retuning to this country, at his Oct. 6 testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. \n"Students who have successfully received entry visas should not require the same degree of scrutiny whenever they need to leave and re-enter the country," he said.\nGraduate student Ran Zhang said she was nervous the first time she returned to China to visit her family. But she said the fear of getting rejected is not the only impediment to going back home. \n"It's very costly to renew a visa, ... and it can be time consuming," she said. "You have to plan everything before you leave the U.S. and get everything set up."\nGraduate student Faraz Sheikh wants to return to Pakistan this summer to visit his family, whom he hasn't seen in nearly two years. He said he is a little nervous about being allowed back into the United States to finish his doctorate. But, he said, if he had to choose between visiting his family and being able to finish his degree, his education would receive preference because he can communicate with his family regularly via telephone and the Internet. \nSheikh does not believe the U.S. visa policy is unreasonable, however, and urges patience among other such students.\n"It is important for international students to understand that it's for your security as well," he said. "You could just as easily be on the plane that blows up, too."\nSchrader said she has received scattered reports of students being stranded in their countries or feeling afraid to return home, but most are coping with the difficulties.\n"Scholars and students are remarkably resilient. They're seasoned international travelers," she said. "And I think they think twice now in many cases about going home, but if they want to go home, they go home."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Michael Zennie at mzennie@indiana.edu.