United States urged to keep doors open to international students, in Cornell-led report on visa policy

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- International students arriving at U.S. universities for the start of the 2005-06 school year may feel unwelcome as they try to obtain visas, says a new report by a Cornell University law professor and co-authors at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI).

The legal structure behind who may enter the country has changed little since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but more security checks, demands for personal interviews and other new administrative requirements will continue to impede the flow of students and other visitors from abroad, states the report.

The report, "Secure Borders, Open Doors: Visa Procedures in the Post 9-11 Era," was issued Aug. 18 by MPI. It was co-authored by Stephen Yale-Loehr, adjunct professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School; Demetrios Papademetriou, president of MPI; and Betsy Cooper, a Truman scholar and 2004 Cornell graduate who is now a research assistant at MPI.

The authors note that problems remain in U.S. visa policy, despite the restoring of balance, proportion and flexibility to the visa program since the clampdown immediately following the 2001 terrorist attacks.

"Through the investigative process of this report, I learned just how badly student visas have been affected since Sept. 11," said Cooper. "While many strides have been made, particularly with the SEVIS [Student Exchange and Visitor Information System] tracking program, it will take time to fix the remaining problems and change the perception that foreign students are no longer welcome in the United States."

Brendan O'Brien, director of the International Students and Scholars Office at Cornell, said: "International students and visiting international scholars make a great contribution to Cornell and many other universities. Unfortunately, many of these individuals have had great difficulty gaining approval to come to the U.S. This has been difficult not only for these visitors, but also for university research programs."

Indeed, while the numbers on admissions of foreign students at U.S. universities are down only slightly, the number of applicants are significantly lower, affecting the pool of students from which universities can draw, a spokesperson from MPI said.

Some of the MPI report's recommendations:

  • The visa process and border inspections need to be made easier for travelers who have already been approved for visas and have up-to-date security checks;
  • Better-coordinated decisions among the agencies involved in visa policy are needed, as is better communication to employees in the field;
  • Administrative control behind the issuing of visas needs to be more transparent as well as continually evaluated for improvements; and
  • Better training of Homeland Security officers and of U.S. consular personnel by the State Department is needed.

This is the first comprehensive report since 2002 on the many reforms to the system that handles foreigners traveling to the United States and those seeking to immigrate here. It outlines the current status of visa policy and includes a chronology of major actions related to visas, terrorism and travel from 1980 to the present, spotlights student visa policy and includes recommendations for interagency cooperation and reforms that ensure both national security and legitimate travel for foreign visitors.

Access the report on the MPI Web site: http://www.migrationpolicy.org.
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