Washington — The number of foreign students enrolled at American colleges and universities appears to be on the rebound, but the results of a study presented today at an international-education conference here suggest that the more-restrictive visa policies put in place after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks still may have a dampening effect on students and scholars coming to the United States.
Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles presented the results of a 2007 electronic survey of 1,570 international students and academics, about 44 percent of the foreign students and scholars on the campus. The findings were presented at a session of the annual meeting of Nafsa: Association of International Educators, which wraps up today.
International students and scholars at UCLA reported that they had experienced delays at both American consulates abroad and ports of entry into the country. Thirty-eight percent of respondents with F-1 student visas and 56 percent of those with H1-B work visas said visa delays had forced them to alter their travel plans. Visitors from Africa were most likely to have had to delay their travel because of visa problems.
More than a third of all respondents said they had experienced delays at American consulates, while 39 percent of student-visa holders said they had been held up when attempting to enter the United States.
Many of those surveyed said that they worried visa issues were hindering their academic careers, said Shideh Hanassab, director of research at the university’s Dashew Center for International Scholars and Students and the author of a report on the study. In open-ended comments, respondents said that concerns about whether they would obtain a visa to re-enter the United States had prevented them from attending or delivering papers at international conferences.
A great many of those surveyed also expressed frustration with U.S. consular and customs officials whose attitudes, respondents said, made them feel like “criminals.” And 54 percent said the current immigration regulations did not make them feel safer.
Victor C. Johnson, senior adviser for public policy at Nafsa, said the UCLA findings illustrated the need for less-restrictive visa policies and for a coordinated federal approach to recruiting foreign students. —Karin Fischer
