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International Education MattersA
Forum for Issues Pertaining
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Statement by the Alliance and NAFSA to the Committee on Government Reform regarding impact of new visa process on foreign travel to the U.S., July 10, 2003The Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange and NAFSA: Association of International Educators recommend the implementation of a visa system that protects U.S. national security and interests. Although the State Department claims to support this goal, the concern is that their policies can cause serious delays in the visa application process. One source of delay is the policy of limiting the waiver of a personal appearance for nonimmigrant visa applicants thereby increasing the number of interviews conducted by embassy staff and reversing the longstanding practice of allowing consular officials to judge which applicants are interviewed. The implementation of SEVIS has also led to delays in the visa adjudication process. Such delays will negatively affect American institutions that host international students and exchange participants. Therefore, implementation of the new visa interview requirement should be delayed until sufficient resources are available to meet the increased volume of visa interviews, and should be phased in gradually rather than all at once. http://www.nafsa.org/content/publicpolicy/ |
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