Exchange students find obtaining visas to be extremely difficult
By Monique Bhimani
Staff Reporter

As a U.S. citizen, a student can apply for a passport at more than 5,000 locations nationwide, including state courts, post offices and some libraries and municipal offices.

But for a student wanting to come to the United States from another country, often the only place to apply for a visa in the country is the U.S. embassy.

Nelson Kwambai, a freshman business major, said it took him about six months to get his student visa to come to the United States from Kenya. The process was delayed because he was denied a visa the first time he applied, Kwambai said.

“So many people want to come here, yet so many people are poor,” Kwambai said. “It’s expensive too; it costs $100 to get an appointment (at the embassy).”

John Singleton, the director of International Student Services, said difficulties obtaining student visas are not uncommon, especially after the Sept. 11 attacks. In April 2002, a policy passed through Congress making it more difficult for international students, especially males from the Middle East, to obtain visas to the United States.

“(The process) can’t get any harder,” Singleton said. “Any harder and there would be no visas given out.”
Singleton said the new security measures have come about because of a certain mindset of the Bush administration.

“The government says that if (the students) are not terrorists, they should have nothing to hide,” Singleton said.

Faith Makka, a freshman nursing major from Nigeria, said the day she went to get her visa, she was one among about 300 students waiting outside the embassy at 5:30 a.m. She said she remembers the chaotic morning vividly.

“It could be likened to a stampede. Grown men jumped chains that kept us across the road and jumped the railings to secure their spot in the line,” Makka said. “Folders went flying in the air, letting loose financial documents, bank statements, I-20 forms, transcripts and passports. I don’t know how I made it (to the line), but I did, with just a few bruises.”

Makka said she finally got her interview at 6:30 p.m. that day, but not before she saw countless applicants refused for visas. That day, she said, less than 50 visas were given out.

The official told Makka that her name and information did not show up on the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, an online system to track international students. Since being on the list is a requirement for students who want to receive a visa to study in the United States, the official simply told her to return to the embassy when she knows her name would be listed on SEVIS, Makka said. Two weeks later she was approved for a visa, after her name appeared on the system.

Kwambai, who had a similar experience obtaining a visa, said it was a long, hard process.

“Applying for a visa is like climbing a mountain,” Kwambai said. “If you are lucky, you get to come over here.”