Fix Student Visa Process

It has been just over a year since the World Trade Center towers crumbled to the ground, but the cultural aftershocks continue to reverberate around the world. Foreign students, eager to attend American universities, find themselves barred from entering the country as the academic year begins. The threat of further terrorist attacks has meant increasingly stringent background checks delaying the approval of student visas in 26 countries from Malaysia to Saudi Arabia.

To some extent these delays are unavoidable; they are part of the changed world in which we find ourselves after Sept. 11. The government cannot allow a flawed, lax visa process to compromise America’s security. One of the Sept. 11 hijackers entered the U.S. on a student visa, yet never showed up at school. And in a highly publicized and incredibly embarrassing mistake, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) sent letters to a flight school in Florida saying that Mohamed Atta and Marwan Al-Shehhi could exchange their tourist visas for student visas—six months after they hijacked and crashed jets on Sept. 11.

That said, the government should work to make the visa application process as smooth and painless as possible. Far more federal resources should be devoted to the INS and the various agencies responsible for providing national security. Only increased coordination between these departments can provide both acceptable security for the U.S. and an efficient visa system for foreign students.

In the meantime the government should expedite the process for foreign students as much as possible without, of course, compromising security. Students generally need to arrive at their colleges in September, yet are not usually accepted until April. Speeding up the visa application process so that they can arrive in time for fall registration would be welcome for all concerned. In the meantime colleges should be as flexible as possible to allow foreign students held up by thorough security checks to arrive late for registration.

Enabling international students to attend colleges in America’s free and open society—and encouraging Americans to spend time at universities abroad—is an important way we can combat the ignorance and hatred which manifested itself on Sept. 11. Therefore, where possible, friendly foreign governments should assist U.S. agencies in their background checks to weed out potential terrorists. All stand to gain from extending foreign students a safe and speedy welcome.