CALL TO ACTION: Template Letter for Addressing International Student Visa Processing Delays and Denial Rates
Shorelight and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration have just finished the 2024 update to our coauthored visa-denial report. The report has been making headlines for a year and is continuing to drive conversation. Members of Congress are now asking for more transparency in visa denials and addressing the U.S. Secretary of State in writing.
In this update, you can see that the Presidents’ Alliance is now pushing their members to submit individual letters to the State Department and have provided the template. Please feel free to share with your campus colleagues! We are gaining momentum on this issue, other organizations such as NAFSA and WES are also now following and reporting on the data.
Recent data shows that international students are currently contending with excessively long wait times and adjudication and processing delays, with posts reporting interview wait times of 100 to over 350 days, which imperil students’ ability to secure their visas in time for the start of the academic term. In addition, a recent update to the Interview of a Lifetime report published by the Presidents’ Alliance and Shorelight shows disproportionately high visa denial rates for applicants from the African continent.
Get the template on the Presidents’ Alliance website >
International Student Visa Targets Look Likely to Be Missed
While this article focuses on Canada, it is worth the read. It covers several reasons for declining numbers in international student visas for Canada. Many issues are also currently being faced in the US.
At 33%, Indian students remain the single largest group applying to Canada and their overall approval rate is 50%. In January and February, almost 45,000 applications from Indian students were processed. In March this number plummeted to just over 4,000, a historically low number. ApplyBoard suggests several reasons for this decline. First, student loans have become harder for Indian students to secure. The vast majority (90% in 2023) of Indian students apply for programmes at colleges and universities that are now capped.
Read more on University World News >
Green Cards for Grads: Trump’s New Vote Magnet?
Some of you may have seen this reporting from the Trump campaign. For many of us, it sounds great but the reality of this actually happening is very slim. Our team will monitor this story and keep you updated on any changes we hear about.
With the upcoming elections, it’s essential to consider whether this proposal is a genuine policy shift or merely a tactic to attract votes. Trump’s history of bold, often unfulfilled promises adds to the skepticism. His new stance on Green Cards for graduates could be seen as an attempt to broaden his appeal and win over international student communities and their families. For now, students and educational institutions can only wait and hope for a clearer, more consistent approach to immigration reform.
