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FYI
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science Policy News
Number 56: April 25, 2003

Foreign Student Visas and Tracking Problems Reviewed

The problems and delays in the tracking of foreign students and the
processing of visa applications for students and visiting scientists
have been addressed in several hearings recently, and in an April 10
keynote address by OSTP Director John Marburger at the annual S&T
Policy Colloquium of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. 

"The current situation is untenable," declared Chairman Sherwood
Boehlert (R-NY) at one of a series of House Science Committee
hearings exploring how the war on terrorism is affecting the nation's
science enterprise.  The backlogs in the visa system, he said at the
March 26 hearing, are "unnecessarily impeding the flow of foreign
students and scholars" who are "a vital source of new ideas and
perspectives."  A State Department official explained that the delays
are due to stricter reviews, agencies' response time, a greater
caseload, and insufficient infrastructure to handle the additional
cases.  She reported that the relevant agencies recognize the problem
and are taking measures to decrease the delays, but she "didn't see a
return to the rapid processing we enjoyed" before the September 11
attacks.  Many committee members concurred with the comment by
Ranking Minority Member Ralph Hall (D-TX) that more American-born
students should be "enticed...to pursue science and engineering
careers," to "reduce the need to attract such a high percentage of
foreign students."  College and university officials voiced support
for stricter visa procedures, but added that it was important for the
U.S. to continue to "remain the destination of choice" for the
world's best students and scholars.

A week later, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Border
Security and Claims heard university witnesses testify about
difficulties with the Student and Exchange Visitor Information
System (SEVIS) program to track foreign students studying in this
country.  They described technical glitches with entering and viewing
data, insufficient training on the part of Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) personnel, and the potential for greater
problems with an increase in data volume as all foreign students
currently in the U.S. are required to be registered by August 1.  The
Justice Department's Inspector General reported that while the INS
has made "significant progress" in improving the system, it is "not
yet fully implemented."  He stated that more resources are needed for
training, contractor oversight, and to address the technical
problems.

At the AAAS Colloquium on Science and Technology Policy, OSTP
Director Marburger focused on the issue of visa delays. "Most of the
current delays and backlogs are related to our efforts to screen
applicants more rigorously," he explained, "and not as the result of
policies to exclude." Marburger said he has reviewed the rates of
acceptance and rejection for visas in recent years and found "a small
but significant decrease in acceptance rates over all categories,"
with rates for scientists and students comparable to those for other
populations.  He indicated that the main problem is delays resulting
from more cases being submitted for additional reviews, and "more
careful scrutiny" during those reviews.  He concluded by stating that
the problems are understood, and agencies are working to correct
them.  Selected excerpts from his speech will be provided in FYI #57,
and the full text is available in pdf format at

http://www.ostp.gov/html/jhmAAASvisas.pdf .

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Audrey T. Leath
Media and Government Relations Division
The American Institute of Physics
fyi{at}aip.org
(301) 209-3094
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