- April 16, 2021
- Posted by: Joseph
- Category: Economics, Education, Immigration
Leaders of 17 higher education institutions in New York State have written to the US government urging it to open consulates for F-1 student visa appointments and processing and allow officers to either waive in-person interview requirements or allow for online interviews.
In the letter to US secretary of State Antony Blinken and secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, university presidents and chancellors also suggest extending exemptions to travel restrictions for international students.
Currently, only students traveling from the European Schengen area, the UK and Ireland are exempt from travel restrictions to the US, they highlighted.
“We are concerned that many embassies and consulates around the world remain closed and therefore unable to process international student visas,” leaders of institutions including Columbia University, Cornell University, University of Rochester, University at Buffalo and Stony Brook University wrote.
“Given the average length of processing times, this is a matter of some urgency for international students who need to begin making plans to travel to the United States safely by the start of the next academic year.”
The problem is “particularly acute” in China, which represented some 34.6% of international students in the US in 2019/20, where F-1 visa processing services have been closed for over 13 months, they continued.
Institutions are also experiencing “significant delays” in India, which sent more than 193,000 students to the US in 2019/20, according to Open Doors statistics.
The US has already waived the interview requirement for the Temporary Non-Agricultural Workers H-2 visas, the letter highlighted.