International Education Matters

A Forum for Issues Pertaining to
Intensive English Programs

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How carefully do Intensive English Programs (IEP's) monitor foreign student compliance with immigration laws?

A: Shortly after 9/11, the media focused on one of the nineteen hijackers who had apparently entered the country on a student visa and failed to report to his program of study. Curiously ignoring the status of the other eighteen perpetrators, the media issued reports describing universities and intensive English programs as being lax in monitoring foreign student compliance with immigration laws. The reality is quite different. Of the estimated 39 million visitors to the U.S. each year, only about 500,000 (1.28%) enter on student visas. Since the inception of the student visa category shortly after World War II, no other group of international visitors has been more carefully monitored. Each campus authorized to issue I-20’s (the documents foreign students use to apply for student visas) is required to employ a professional (often called “Foreign Student Advisor” or “Designated School Officer”), whose job is to ensure student compliance with all applicable immigration laws and regulations.

One of these regulations is the requirement that students maintain full time status, defined as a course load of 9 hours per week for graduate study, 12 hours for undergraduate work, and 18 hours for intensive English programs. As a result, accredited intensive English programs set requirements for student attendance, usually with judicial procedures for acting upon students who violate attendance policies. Students can be placed on academic probation or even expelled from the program for flagrant violations of attendance policies. Expelled students are invariably reported to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE), and programs/institutions that do not comply lose their authorization to issue I-20's. Accrediting organizations such as the Commission on English Program Accreditation verify that intensive English programs conform to government requirements for student monitoring.

Compare this level of oversight to that imposed on a typical tourist visa holder, who is free to travel to any state in the USA, check in and out of hotels at whim, and basically do whatever or go wherever he or she pleases throughout the length of the visa. International educators are not arguing for travel restrictions and monitoring to be imposed upon our country’s 30+ million tourists; otherwise tourists will likely spend their billions in other countries. Rather, we wish only to illustrate just how seriously educators take their responsibility to monitor the foreign students on campus. In fact, educators have worked closely with the U.S. government to provide even stronger monitoring capability.

The one 9/11 hijacker who had a student visa was not playing hooky from classes; rather he had failed to report to and register with his program in the first place. Even if the Oakland school had reported him to authorities, there would not have been (prior to 2002) any means to track the missing student. New regulations and technology now address this potential abuse of the system. A visa holder tracking system known as SEVIS permits the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (BICE) to monitor when a student has entered the country, notify the student's school of the arrival, and record the student’s registration at the designated school. To secure that last piece of information, BICE requires all educational institutions to report electronically all “no-shows” within thirty days of the scheduled start of classes. These new procedures will make a good system of monitoring and compliance even better.

Q: Why is the Department of State so reluctant to issue visas for language study?
A: Despite the fact that approximately 100,000 students enroll in intensive English programs each year (or about 1/6 of all student visa holders), intensive English programs (IEPs) are often viewed as the poor stepchildren of higher education. At many US consulate offices around the world, the Department of State (DOS) is much less likely to issue visas to students wanting to study English in the U.S. than to those pursuing undergraduate or graduate degrees, despite the fact that DOS regulations clearly stipulate language study as an appropriate use of the student visa. In China, visa denials for English language study are routine based on outdated ideas of the Chinese economy. In other areas of the world, such as South East Asia, Eastern Europe, and parts of South America, visa denials also remain extraordinarily high even for applicants who have the financial means to study in the States. Male applicants from the Middle East are virtually assured to have their visa application denied. In fact, the DOS has considerably raised the bar for visa approval, by subjecting all new applicants to an interview; proposing new fees as high as $100 (over and above traditional visa charges); increasing visa review periods from a few days to weeks, and often months; and implementing a new and potentially intrusive electronic tracking system to monitor student movement within the States. Many of these barriers have discouraged students from even applying in the first place. US officials argue that such measures are necessary to ensure national security. Curiously, however, other countries with similar security concerns, e.g., Australia, Canada, and Great Britain, have recently taken steps to lower barriers for student visas by dropping or eliminating fees, reducing processing time, and even offering an array of student scholarships.

Q: How does study at an IEP further U.S. diplomatic goals?
A: Issuance of student visas is based on a compelling premise: open borders promote security by fostering cross-cultural understanding and cooperation; whereas, isolation breeds ignorance, mistrust, and, ultimately, more terrorism. International students who have studied at U.S. universities in the past have historically promoted Western ideas upon their return home. English language study can be an option for international students whose time or money is too limited for enrollment in a four-year degree program. Today those foreign students still believing in American ideals and wanting desperately to study in the States encounter an arduous visa application process. Many may turn away in frustration, and in so doing, turn toward the demagoguery of anti-Americanism that has swept well beyond the Middle East and now threatens to engulf most of Europe and Asia. Professional organizations such as the Consortium of University and College Intensive English Programs (UCIEP) and the American Association of Intensive English Programs (AAIEP) have called on the DOS to tear down the high barriers to accessing US higher education in all forms (degree and language study), and, in so doing, make our country and, indeed the world, a safer place.

Scott Stevens

This file was updated on November 12, 2003