Opinion: Struggling Under The Red, White, And Blue as a non-Immigrant

Some of the interviews have been edited for clarity

“I was nervous beyond measure,” said Kevin Vaswani, referring to his experience acquiring a visa at the U.S. embassy in Indonesia. Kevin, an F-1 visa holder for 2 and a half years, is currently studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), and like many other international students applying for F-1 visas, has struggled with the lengthy application process and its limitations. Some students, like Cherry Wong, a visa holder for 4 years, go through agencies to simplify the application process. Cherry added that she could not “imagine trying to do everything herself” and “probably wouldn’t want to study in the U.S.” if she did. From the students interviewed, proving finances was one of the hardest aspects of obtaining a visa.

In the last couple of years, the U.S. has seen a sharp decline in non-immigrant student visas. According to statistics from the Department of State, F-1 visa applications are down 17% since last year, and 39% since the highest point in 2015. Since the 2016 election, the Trump administration’s stance on immigration has become increasingly rigid, driving international students to study in higher numbers in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Tensions between the U.S. and China has escalated in 2018, putting the 340,000 Chinese, 6,700 Hong Kong, and 480 Macau students in an unexpected spotlight. During a dinner meeting with CEOs and senior White House Staff, in broadly referring to Chinese students,  President Trump said that “almost every student that comes into this country is a spy.” President Trump, in hopes to protect American intellectual property, proposed restricting visas for Chinese students studying in US Academic institutions. In a June report released by the White House, aptly named How China’s Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World, accuses China of conducting “commercial espionage against U.S. companies involving... human infiltration to systematically penetrate the information systems of U.S. companies to steal their intellectual property.”

These accusations have international students worried, not whether President Trump can ban Chinese students, but make the already lengthy visa process more restrictive for everyone.  I asked Kevin whether he has personally found the United States a less desirable place to study in recent years, or at least see a change in the attitude of student's interest in the United States. He told me that “this colossal mess that the U.S. has brought into the political world has definitely deterred young minds from venturing into a country filled with opportunities. I had to see past it.” The three most common answers cited fear in the new political state of the U.S., the increased financial burden of studying abroad, and complications surrounding jobs and internships.

By itself, an F-1 visa does not allow a student to get work off-campus, part-time or full-time. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), a student must complete one academic year, and must “explain your economic hardship situation and receive approval to work from your Designated School Official (DSO).” If the DSO is aware of a student working­ without permission, a student must leave the U.S. effective immediately and never return. For students barely getting by financially, this is a huge concern.

A common choice for students is to apply for an Optional Practical Training (OPT), allowing students to apply for internships in the job they are majoring in. However, this still has issues, as Shelly Gertan, an Austrian student found out. Shelly landed an internship at NBC Universal, which went smoothly until NBC told her that due to her work permit, they cannot confirm whether she could be paid or not until after the shoot. She asked a SCAD International Students & Scholars Office (ISSO) counselor about her rights in this situation. The counselor told her that even if she gets paid, she will have problems in future U.S. employment applications as they “see my track record for bending the rules a bit like that.” Shelly provided a direct quote from the ISSO counselor: “It’s not technically an issue since most of the job was them purchasing the rights to your artwork, but my future employment might be denied for a small slip up like this ‘under the current administration.’”

How does a student attempt to pay for an increasingly expensive education with limited access to jobs? Shelly added that “from the view of the US, they’re doing the students a favor by letting them take the spot that one of their locals could have instead. So, if we want to benefit from education abroad, we better be ready to pay for it.”