At least eight international students cannot shop for classes with their peers this week due to visa delays that have left them stranded in their home countries as the semester carries on without them.
This year, at least 15 international students had difficulty re-entering the country and had to start the semester late. This number is up from eight students last year, according to Ellen Cohen, associate director of the International Students and Scholars Office.
She added that there may be more students delayed, since her office is only aware of those students who reported their difficulties.
“I barely made it in time for classes,” said Ammar Khalid, a graduate student from Pakistan at the School of the Arts.
His visa was delayed for nearly two weeks last month for reasons that were never explained to him.
He said he was disappointed to have missed orientation and was still feeling jet lagged last week.
“It’s a very common story for Pakistani students,” he said, adding that he still considers himself one of the lucky ones.
In the past, students’ visas have been delayed for up to two or three semesters, forcing them to delay their programs or admission to the University, Cohen said.
One such student is Salman Baset, a Ph.D. candidate at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, who had to miss a semester when he was working on his master’s because of a prolonged security check.
Baset said people are chosen for extended security clearances because their names might be similar to names on a terrorism watch list or because their course of study, for example nuclear engineering, is considered threatening to the United States. But even if the delay is over an extended period of time, the government does not explain causes or reveal suspicions.
“It could be that there may be some legitimate processing happening, but it could also be that the system that is set up is not very efficient,” he said of the Department of Homeland Security’s system for clearing Muslims.
Representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan said in an email that it is difficult to predict how long delays will last, since the process can vary dramatically depending on the situation.
This year, students from Pakistan, Iran, China, the United Kingdom, Morocco, Bangladesh, and India were delayed by the Department of State.
Cohen said that in June, several peer institutions reported that they had more students than usual experiencing visa delays.
“Terror incidents tend to tighten things up,” she said. At the end of 2009, a 24-year-old Nigerian student attempted to detonate a bomb aboard a plane that was bound for Detroit, an incident Cohen guesses sparked increased vigilance.
“The University does not approach the State Department to expedite the processing of our applications. Basically students are left on their own to figure it out,” Baset said, adding that he believes they are unwilling to take the political risk of vouching for a student who may end up being connected to terrorist activities.
Cohen said that over the years, her office has tried to expedite the visa process, but with so many different bureaus to go through, it’s very difficult.
“I’ve written many a letter or an email and I get back a canned message,” she said. “There’s just no effective way to expedite the issuance of a visa once there is a security check pending outside the local consulate.”
Cohen said there is one Iranian graduate student in the School of Arts and Sciences who has been waiting for a visa since April and keeping up with his coursework from home, though he will most likely be forced to defer another semester if he cannot make it to New York in the next week.
Another student, from China, is scheduled to arrive on campus today.
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