In a press statement on May 20, 2011, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that Iranian citizens who seek student visas to come to the United States will from now on be granted multiple entry visas valid for two years instead of the 3 months single entry visas they used to be granted.
It is important to make a distinction between the validity of a visa versus the length of stay authorized by the Dept. of Homeland Security. For example, under the old rules, an Iranian citizen applying for a student visa for a four year Bachelor program at UCLA would have been authorized to stay in the U.S. for all of those four years. However, the visa she would have been granted under the old rules would have had a small window of 3 months to make arrangements to enter the U.S. once accepted After that, if that person chose to leave the U.S. for, say a vacation, let's say 6 months, or 1 year, or 2 years after she started her program of study, she would then be required to re-apply for a brand new 3 month single entry student visa from the U.S. consulate abroad in order to return to the U.S. and resume her studies.
Iranian students for the overwhelming part chose not to take the risk of leaving the U.S. in the unfortunate event that once out, they would either be refused re-admission or experience a significant delay in obtaining a new visa to return to their program of study, which could prove detrimental to their studies themselves, like making them miss important course registration deadlines or an exam.
The change anounced by Mrs. Clinton applies to any Iranian abroad who are currently seeking visas in the F, M, or J categories. Iranians currently in the United States on a three-month, single-entry visa in one of these categories can obtain them too by reapplying outside the United States at a consular post in order to obtain two-year, multiple-entry visas. Surprisingly, this news has been met with considerable derision in the Iranian blogosphere. It seems some people are bent on spinning this in a negative way, either to criticize the U.S. government for righting a wrong (too little, too late attitude) or casting suspicion on students who are supposedly able to afford the thousands of dollars it would take to go back home during a course of study.
In my opinion, this news is extremely important and a positive step forward in eradicating discrimination against Iranian students. Those who are accepted in universities here not only make a positive contribution to the host universities and communities but they will take back with them important tools to redistribute to their own community. Fostering educational and cultural exchanges is in my mind the best way to improve future relationships between countries, in every respect.
A Farsi version of the press statement and a video announcement are available on the official DOS website here.
No comments:
Post a Comment