School News
International Affairs Writes a Wrong: Pending Laws May Affect Foreign Students
By Lamaretta Simmons
The Office of International Affairs was rankled last month by a proposal by Senator Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) to institute a six-month moratorium on foreign student visas. The proposal by Feinstein came just weeks after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and was a part of a larger proposal to reform the U.S. foreign student visa program, which Feinstein and many other legislators see as a vulnerable system that has allowed those with less than humane intentions into the country.
Michel Frendian, director of International Affairs at SAIC, along with his entire staff wrote letters to the senator expressing their concerns that the proposal targeted foreign students indiscriminately and that it would create the illusion that all foreign students are a risk to national security. Letters also went out to Illinois senators.
Frendian and his staff joined many students and administrators from academic institutions around the country in expressing dismay at the proposal, which has since been abandoned by Feinstein and her colleagues in the Senate Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information. But the issue is far from over.
The U.S. Foreign Student Visa Program has been placed under a powerful microscope since authorities and members of Congress learned that at least one of the 19 hijackers from Sept.11, Hani Hanjour, entered the U.S. on a student visa. Hanjour supposedly enrolled in an Oakland, California, college but never showed up for classes. Authorities are also exploring whether others involved in the hijackings entered the country on student visas.
"[T]here is little scrutiny given to those who claim to be foreign students seeking to study in the United States. In fact, the foreign student visa program is one of the most unregulated and exploited visa categories," Feinstein said via a press release on the U.S. Senate website.
The issue at hand, the implementation of a national foreign student tracking system known as CIPRIS/SEVP, to be overseen by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was first introduced in 1993, after the first bombing of the World Trade Center, when it was learned that a bomber in that case was in the U.S. on an expired student visa.
In 1996 Congress enacted a law that was to require the INS to collect data on foreign students; however, the system is not yet in existence. Currently, there is no central location for information on foreign students within the U.S., and current law only requires colleges and universities to supply the INS with basic directory information on a foreign student. Academic institutions are not required by law to speak to any law enforcement agency, other than the INS, about a foreign student, short of being presented a warrant. The Senate Subcommittee on Technology, Terrorism, and Government Information, chaired by Feinstein, is pushing to authorize $32.3 million in appropriations to the INS to begin the implementation of the tracking system or data bank.
The legislation, which is also being championed by Sens. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), will address a wide range of immigration security issues, and may at some point alter the role that academic institutions play in monitoring foreign students.
Frendian said, " I do expect that the reporting responsibility for schools would change. [Currently] when a student falls out of status or is no longer enrolled, as the designated school official I really have no legal obligation to do anything with that information. We will probably begin to have to report those types of events."
Some of the proposed changes would:
- Require all foreign students to submit visa applications to the INS for approval before the State Department issues visas.
- Modify existing law by requiring the INS to conduct comprehensive background checks before the State Department reviews foreign student visa applications.
- Require schools to report to the INS on a quarterly basis on academic status of foreign students, date of visa issuance and expiration, as well as any disciplinary action taken by the school against the student.
- Require the INS to upgrade its electronic data system to include biometric data (fingerprints, photographs) on all foreign students applying to enter the U.S.
Officials estimate that 245,000 foreign students have entered the U.S. this year to study. Numbers on the U.S. Senate website also show that between 1999 and 2000 the State Department issued 3,370 visas to students from countries on the U.S. terrorism watch list.
SAIC currently has 318 international full-time degree-seeking students. On average, the school accepts around 120 new international students each year.
In his letter to Feinstein, Frendian also stated that the proposal failed to address the monitoring, or lack thereof, of individuals entering the U.S. on other types of visas, which according to Frendian constitutes more than 98 percent of the visas issued by the State Department. Student F-1 visas constitute less than two percent of all foreign visas issued. Other visas that are slowly entering the security talks are business visas and tourist visas.
"There is great benefit to having all this information about foreign students in one central location," Frendian said. Though, he added that the implementation and operation of the CIPRIS/SEVP program should not place an undue burden on foreign students or academic institutions.
He added that there was no indication at this time that the data bank would be used for any other purpose than initially outlined in 1993, when talks of the proposed tracking system first surfaced.
Still, with the issue far from settled, and security at an all-time high, the Office of International Affairs is supplying international students with information to quell anxieties and ensure that foreign students are equipped to travel outside of the country.
As the holidays approach, Frendian said that he and his staff are making sure that students know the law and that students have all their papers up-to-date before traveling outside of U.S. borders to their respective homes. [Getting out of the country isn't expected to be a problem; however, the security at port of entry locations is expected to be stringent.] Students are strongly encouraged to make certain they are enrolled and registered for the coming spring semester, have an authorized I-20 form and that their visas are not expired.
Checklist
Checklist recommended for international students
who are planning on traveling outside the U.S. after the end of the Fall term:
1. Register for Spring semester, ensuring that you carry a full-time course load.
2. Carry proof of registration with you while you are traveling.
3. Get your I-20 form authorized by the Office of International Affairs once you have registered for Spring semester. The I-20 CANNOT be authorized for travel if the student is not registered for a full-time course load for Spring semester.
4. Make sure that your passport is valid.
5. Make sure that your U.S. entry visa is valid.
6. Get a Verification of Enrollment letter from the Office of International Affairs and carry it with you while you are travelling.
Source: Office of International Affairs
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