Doors to open wider

It is about the right time. Woot!

From the issue dated April 14, 2006

Proposed Visa Change Would Make It Easier for Foreign Students to Stay in U.S. After Graduation

By BURTON BOLLAG

Foreign graduate students studying science or engineering at an American college would have an easier time staying on to work in the United States after graduation under provisions in two competing immigration bills making their way through the U.S. Senate.

The language in the bills is intended to remedy the shortage of highly trained job seekers in technical fields. It would create a new type of student visa, called an F4, for foreigners seeking to enter the United States to enroll in graduate programs in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics.

Unlike the current student visa, the F4 would not require applicants to demonstrate that they intend to return home after graduation.

If students with the F4 visa wanted to remain in the United States to work, they could apply for a change in status from student visas to green cards. Under an amendment to one of the bills, from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, that fee would be $2,000, double what it is in the competing bill.

Thousands of students would fall under the new visa category.

According to the latest figures from the National Science Foundation, 9,170 foreign students were awarded Ph.D.'s in the sciences and engineering in 2003; 22,455 earned master's degrees in 2002.

Higher-education officials welcomed the provision.

Under the current system, foreign graduates of American institutions face the same long waits and limited number of green cards as other foreigners seeking to immigrate to the United States.

The new provision, said Victor C. Johnson, associate executive director for public policy at Nafsa: Association of International Educators, "is created for people that we want to have an opportunity to stay in the country after they get their degree, and work in our industry and research institutions."

"You pay a lot of money, but you get placed on a fast track" for a green card, he said.

Howard Gantman, a spokesman for Senator Feinstein, said the $2,000 fee would finance scholarships and job-training programs for American students, and would "combat fraud in the student-visa program."

"Senator Feinstein is seeking to help bolster scholarships and training for American students," he said.

The provision from Senator Feinstein is included in a bill introduced by Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican from Pennsylvania, that has been approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

A competing piece of legislation, sponsored by Sen. Bill Frist, of Tennessee, the majority leader, has been approved by the Senate, which is expected to continue debate on Mr. Specter's bill this week.

Some senators have said they do not expect the immigration legislation, which has sparked protests in several cities, to be completed until after the November elections.

http://chronicle.com
Section: International
Volume 52, Issue 32, Page A45