State, Homeland Security urged to overhaul student visa process

Graduate-school applications from foreign students dropped 32 percent in the last year, and there is a growing concern that the student-visa application process is part of the problem.

Policy experts on Monday called on the Homeland Security and State departments to streamline the process and to reinforce the government's commitment to invest in the cultural exchange of ideas.

A lengthy application process, redundancy in interviews and repetitive security checks must be overhauled, Nils Hasselmo, president of the Association of American Universities, said. The average wait time for a security check in the last year was 67 days. Student visa applications are also down 21 percent since 2001.

"Screening must be effective, rather than creating unnecessary processes and bureaucratic work," he said. "When we create barriers, we do harm to economy and national security."

The State Department currently manages student-visa applications while Homeland Security deals with the security perspective. Homeland Security oversees a Web-based student visa-tracking program known as the Student Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. Although Congress mandated an Internet-based system in 1996, it was not until August 2003 that students were required to register with the system.

Asa Hutchinson, undersecretary for Border and Transportation Security, addressed concern brewing among some educators and policy experts that there are not sufficient safeguards to prevent racial and geographic profiling.

"President [Bush] has issued strong guidelines to eliminate racial profiling," he said at a news conference. The use of biometrics can help dismantle that impact. SEVIS ensures that legitimate students are welcome and gain access to the United States, Hutchinson said.

"Foreign students are exporters of the American experience ... and we must continue to let in and welcome them," he added.

In the past academic year, international students spent $13 billion in the U.S. economy, according to the Institute of International Education. But the United States is losing applicants to countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, which are aggressively recruiting foreign students and have less stringent visa requirements. Hasselmo also recommends reciprocal visa-exchange programs for countries such as Mexico, and to better collaborate with existing background checks and security measures implemented in scholarship programs.

The controls put into place after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks under a homeland security law were necessary at the time, but it is time to refocus and "fine-tune those controls without compromising our safety," said Victor Johnson of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers.

Part of that fine-tuning would include a clear policy guide for State Department consular officials to refocus the visa review policies and security clearance for scientists, to implement a transparent system by setting firm deadlines, and to offer more resources and facilities to perform these interviews and security checks, as mandated by the federal government.