EDUCATION REPORT - October 17, 2002: Foreign Student Series #5 >New Government Rules

By Nancy Steinbach

This is the VOA Special English EDUCATION REPORT.

We continue our series of reports about how foreign students can attend a college or university in the United
States. This report is on the Special English Internet Web site, w-w-w dot voaspecialenglish dot com.

The State Department has rules for giving permission to foreign students to study in the United States. The rules
can be found on the State Department’s travel Web site. The address is t-r-a-v-e-l dot s-t-a-t-e dot g-o-v. Under
Services, go to Visas for Foreign Citizens to Come to the United States, Nonimmigrant Visas, Student and
Exchange Visitor Visas and Applying for a Foreign Student Visa.

Every foreign student who has been accepted by a college or university to study in this country must have a legal
document called a visa from the United States government. The rules for getting a visa have changed since the
terrorist attacks against the United States last year.

National security is the most important issue in deciding if a person should be permitted to enter the United
States. It now takes a longer time for a person to receive permission to enter the country. This past summer, a
new policy took effect. It requires additional security investigations of men between the ages of sixteen and forty-
five from twenty-six countries. Officials say these men are waiting the longest for their legal papers.

A State Department spokesman said visa applications that used to be approved in days are now taking much
longer. This is because officials must see if the name of each student appears on lists of foreigners with possible
links to terrorists. Officials say that future security investigations are expected to take less than one month from
the time of visa application.

The State Department says international students are not being studied any more closely than people who want to
enter the United States for other reasons. But students must enter the country before their college classes begin.
So they must apply for the visa as soon as they can to permit enough time for approval.

Other new rules have also taken effect. For example, universities must place a confirmation document on a State
Department Web site for every international student they admit. We will have more information about this next
week.

This VOA Special English Education Report was written by Nancy Steinbach.

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