Students denied US visas

SEVERAL students who have been accepted at schools in the United States were disappointed when the United States Embassy denied them students' visas.

The students used the services of a recruiting agency, Florida Schools Recruiting and Replacement, to apply to Florida Metropolitan University (FMU).

"Of every 10 they turned down eight. About 40 got through but in the last few days five of our students have been turned down even though they had everything that was required," said Vonnie McGowan-Arscott, the agency's director of programming.

The students tell tales of being dismissed without having their documents checked, or being asked personal questions or for items which the school does not require.

"The consul asked me why I chose Florida and why not study in Jamaica. I told her that I wanted to study International Business, which is not taught here. She asked me who my sponsor is. I told her my fiance and she asked me why not get a family member to sponsor me. She asked me why I haven't got married and said she can't give me the visa because she is not comfortable that we are not married," Dianne Isaacs said.

Other students say the consular officers asked them for SAT scores (Scholastic Aptitude Test results required by most American universities), even though their schools accept Caribbean Examination Council results.

All the students had already paid the first term's fee of between US$1,700 and US$2,500 and went to the embassy with receipts and other documents.

"They asked me how many children I have and I said one. She wanted to know who the child would be staying with and I told her that I have a husband. The lady said, 'How can you leave your child?' She also said I have insufficient funds even though I showed her bank statements with $180,000 Jamaican and US$10,000," another student said.

Various reasons

However, in a statement to The Sunday Gleaner, the US Embassy said the students could have been turned down for several reasons.

"An application could be denied for various reasons, such as the information on the I-20 being incomplete or the school reporting date already having passed, insufficient financial support, an applicant's failure to satisfy the interviewing officer that his sole purpose of going to the U.S. is to study, or the likelihood that the applicant doesn't intend to return to Jamaica after completing his course of study," the statement said.

But Claudio Tome, director of international admission at the FMU said, "The American Embassy should not question any American school that issues an I-20. They should trust that the school has done its background checks well enough to issue the I-20 in the first place. We issue an I-20 when students have been accepted by the institution and before they are accepted they have to prove that they can be supported without having to work."

Mr. Tome said also that he was aware that "in some countries the U.S. Embassy is particularly strict because they use a gauge of how many students are granted visas and how many return. If the numbers are unusually high, then they begin to clamp down."

But Mrs. McGowan-Arscott said, "Every single Jamaican that has gone on to school has returned; not even one has dropped out."

Mr. Tome said the school did not check on students and he could not confirm if all students returned. He said there were about 30 to 50 Jamaican students on the FMU campus and that the school had been accepting Caribbean students since the 1940s.

The U.S. Embassy encourages Jamaicans to study in the U.S. and plans to issue 2,500 students' visas this year.

Mrs. McGowan-Arscott said she was going to appeal to the embassy on behalf of the students, some of whom are left without a plan for September.

K. B.

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