Student Visa Denials Threaten U.S. Competitiveness
Shorelight and the Presidents’ Alliance coauthored a report in July 2023 on global visa denial rates. Our data included the years 2015-2022 and this week we are issuing an update to include the 2023 analysis. In this article, we see that university presidents are getting engaged in the issue — which is something that needs to happen! Our team has met multiple times with Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State on this issue and will continue our efforts to learn more.
Presidents are worried about immigration. As I interviewed leaders on campuses as part of my doctoral dissertation research on university leadership’s role in internationalization, the conversation kept turning to the topic. At all four institutions where I conducted research, university leaders were worried about recent international enrollment drops on their campuses, a decline they attributed in part to strict U.S. immigration policy.
Read more on Insider Higher Ed >
How to Boost Cleveland’s Population? Immigrants, International Students Are Key
This article outlines many of the challenges our broken immigration policies are causing to local businesses and growth — not just in Cleveland, but in communities all over the country. Our current system is confusing, time-consuming, and uncertain. These inefficiencies and lack of clarity must be taken into account when a business considers hiring an international student or immigrant. Global Cleveland has some great ideas!
Joe Cimperman, the president of Global Cleveland, believes he has the solution: Attract and retain more immigrants and international students to Northeast Ohio, which has historically been a very welcoming place for people from other countries. It’s not a political issue, he said, but an economic imperative. Columbus, he said, is growing, not only because of Ohio State University and state government, but because of its booming immigrant population. “Ours could be too,” he said. “We cannot sustain the economic development that our state is experiencing if we don’t have the talent to do it,” he added.
Get the full story on Cleveland.com >
US Consulate in Hyderabad Extends Student Visa Season
This is good news for students from India trying to get into the US for fall. Hyderabad is extending their increased priority for students by two weeks this year. Hopefully this will include an additional batch of visa appointments opening up for students.
In the coming weeks, the consulate will release additional appointment batches for June, July, and August.
Learn more on The Siasat Daily >
On a related note: Last week, colleagues from Shorelight traveled to India to meet with consular officials and discuss the issue of visa appointment capacity. Our Government Affairs team, along with Data & Analytics, prepared data to quantify the problem between demand versus capacity in India. The announcement of extending student prioritization by two weeks comes on the heels of our meetings. We believe it’s not a coincidence that this expansion was announced this week!
