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Don’t leave home without it

International students struggle to obtain visas to study and work in U.S.

by Marisa Whitley

Most students don’t need to apply to apply to Grinnell. That’s just Jingkan Gu ’06 had to do to obtain a hard-sought student visa. Gu, a student from China, had to apply for his visa four times before being approved. On his fourth try, he convinced the embassy officer that after graduating from Grinnell he would seek his Ph.D. at London’s School of Economics.

“It’s excruciating when you get into a good college,” he said. “Later on, I figured out what [the officers at the embassy] want.”

In countries not on the best terms with the United States, students must go through a particularly difficult process to gain permission to come here.

“It has just been historically difficult for some students to get visas to the United States. Chinese students are an example,” Director of International Student Services Janet Alexander said via email. “During the last 7 years, between 20-50 percent of Chinese students applying for visas to study at Grinnell were denied annually.”

This trend has extended to students across the globe as the number of international students studying in the United States has decreased markedly over the last few years. “After 9/11, many students from many colleges and universities experienced difficulty or delays getting visas,” she said. According to Alexander, Grinnell has not experienced a decline in the number of international students enrolled.

Students who want to study in the United States can apply for either a J-1 or F-1 visa. A J-1 visa is a program-sponsored visa in which students study in their home country for two years before finishing their B.A. at an American college or university. Students on J-1 visas must return to their home country immediately after graduating to fulfill a two-year work requirement.

Kholoud Hassan ’06, a student from Egypt is at Grinnell on a J-1 visa. “I will probably [return to the United States], but I’m going to go home and see how the job opportunities are there,” she said. “I think if I apply later for a master’s it will be good to have job experience.”

An F-1 visa is government sponsored and allows students twelve months to work in the United States, called Optional Practical Training (O.P.T.). The student must work at a job in her major and at a level “commensurate with their education level,” said Alexander. “They may be an economics major, but that doesn’t mean they can sell french fries at McDonald’s.”

Students here under the F-1 visa can apply for O.P.T. through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service. The authorization of the visa can take up to 90 days. Having to apply for O.P.T. three months prior to graduation can be an inconvenience for some students, although it’s not required for them to have a job when applying for the program. “There are a lot of hoops students have to jump through,” said Alexander. “I’m not sure I would know all the things they have to know early on.”

If students want to stay in the United States past their O.P.T. period, they must get their employer to sponsor them for an H-1B visa, a three-year working visa that can be extended for another three years.

Obtaining an H-1B has recently become more difficult since the pool went from 195,000 to 65,000 visas in 2004. Grinnell alum J.P. Ramos ’05 learned this the hard way. He was unable to obtain a job before graduating and didn’t find one until October.

The capacity of H-1B visas had been reached in August, so he will return to the Philippines when his O.P.T. runs out in July. He will then have to wait there for about three months until his H-1B visa comes through.

“I found it very frustrating … sometimes you’re not so lucky to graduate with a job,” he said. “To add to the difficulty, I was having to tell my potential employers that I would need to be sponsored for an H-1B and take a few weeks off work.”

The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) also serves as a bump in the road for international students wishing to stay. SEVIS, implemented after 9/11, requires colleges and universities to track all international alumni under O.P.T. Students are required to report their dependents, residency and employer.

Gu was uncomfortable with the system at first, but “I understand from a U.S. people’s perspective,” he said. “It’s part of the experience of living abroad by yourself … even the visa application, it toughens you up.”

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