The saga of US visa delays continues to mount pressure on a good number of prospective Bangladeshi students, many of whom are expected to start classes from mid-August. Their visa appointments are yet to be scheduled due to the backlogs at the US embassy.
Many of them applied as early as eight months ago for the fall session, when demand for admissions in American educational institutions is high. However, the embassy of the United States in Dhaka has been unable to open slots for visa appointments in accordance with the demand yet.
Some of the students lucky enough to face in-person interviews for visas have been waiting for months as the US mission said their visa approval is now pending on account of what it called "administrative process".
According to the Bureau of Consular Services at the US Department of State, administrative processing is the time period during which visa applications undergo additional review outside of the normal visa processing times to ensure that the applicant poses no security or related risk to the United States.
The visa delays are putting immense pressure on students as many of them have applied with fully funded scholarships, and their failure to join in-person classes on time may see their admissions, scholarships, and teaching assistantships cancelled.
A matter of despair
Mamun (not his real name) got accepted for a PhD programme on nuclear engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his classes are scheduled at the end of this month, but his visa application has been pending for 25 days due to administrative processing.
The candidate applied for an interview in March, attended the interview on July 5, and is now waiting for visa approval.
“My orientation is on August 15, and in-person classes from August 29. If I fail to check in on time, my funds will get cancelled. Every day is now a nightmare,” he told Dhaka Tribune.
Shahed (pseudonym) secured a fully funded PhD on research management at Virginia Tech, a public land-grant research university, but his visa application has been pending administrative processing for 40 days now.
“After my interview on June 24, they sent me an email with eight additional questions and I replied immediately. Now they have kept me pending,” said the frustrated candidate.
His mandatory orientation is on August 15 and classes are set to begin on August 22.
“I can defer the semester, but what will happen to my funding? Who knows if I can secure that again. The dream of studying at the university will be in vain due to the delay by the embassy in allowing the visa,” he said.
Both of them emailed the embassy for updates about their visa status but all they received was generic emails, they claimed.
Dhaka Tribune spoke to four other students and came to know about 300 students waiting for their visas due to a backlog in the US embassy in Dhaka.
US embassy hopeful of clearing backlog soon
The global Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted international educational exchange and student mobility around the world, and the case of the United States is nothing different.
Officials at the US embassy in Dhaka said they have resumed regular consular services and are making special efforts to meet the high demand for student visas and ensure as many students as possible receive interviews.
“We encourage prospective students to make visa interview appointments as early as possible to avoid delays in their studies,” Jeff Ridenour, spokesperson at the US embassy in Dhaka, told Dhaka Tribune.
Pointing out the fact that the embassy is undertaking a campaign to meet the high demand for student visas, he said: “These special efforts include spending selected Fridays dedicated to interviewing applicants for student visas.”
In response to the points raised by students in regard to the administrative process, the embassy said some visa applications require further administrative processing, which takes additional time after the applicant interviews with a consular officer.
“We realize that applicants have time sensitive travel plans; therefore, we try to complete the administrative processing as quickly as possible,” said Jeff Ridenous.
According to him, the consular officer may require further information to continue the administrative processing and will give the applicant a questionnaire to fill out and submit via e-mail. The sooner the applicant submits the questionnaire, the sooner the officer can make a decision on the application, he added.
US: A top destination for Bangladeshi students
The United States remains a top destination of higher education for Bangladeshi students. During the 2020-2021 academic year, it welcomed over 914,000 international students from over 200 places of origin.
In the last decade, the number of Bangladeshi students in the United States has nearly tripled, to over 8,500. According to the 2021 Institute of International Education Open Doors report, Bangladesh currently ranks 14th among the top-sending countries of students to America from around the world—moving up three places from 17th place during the 2019-2020 academic year.
