6 Reasons Trump’s ‘Extreme Vetting’ of Travelers May Already Be the Norm

Ted S. Warren, AP Images

When the Trump administration on Monday issued an executive order halting the issuance of new visas to citizens of six predominantly Muslim countries, it argued that the timeout was necessary to improve security-screening procedures.

President Trump has called for “extreme vetting” of travelers, including students and scholars, from the six countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — and has said those nations sponsor or harbor terrorist groups.

But the talk of heightened screening comes as a surprise to students like Mir Shahab aldin Razavi Hessabi, a doctoral student in theoretical physics at the University of Georgia. Getting the U.S. government’s approval to study in the United States is a complicated process for all international students, often taking months for students from the affected countries. “There is already so much scrutiny,” Mr. Hessabi says.

To get a better sense of the vetting to which international students are subject, The Chronicle spoke with a half-dozen designated school officials, campus administrators who are responsible for issuing visa-related documents and maintaining foreign-student records.

Students must document that they are serious about studying in the United States.

Colleges make admissions decisions on academic merit. But once an admission offer is made, students must undergo another application process to get a visa. The lengthy questionnaire asks an assortment of medical, criminal, and security-related questions, such as whether students have a communicable disease of “public-health significance” or have participated in genocide or torture. Students must also demonstrate that they can afford to study in the United States, providing bank statements and other financial documents to show how they will pay for the first 12 months of schooling.

Students must go through an in-person interview.

Once their visa application is submitted, students must schedule an in-person interview with a U.S. consular official. The interviews, which typically last just a few minutes, are assessments of whether applicants truly intend to study in America — are they proficient in English? can they talk about their college of choice? — or are just looking for a loophole to enter the country.

Perhaps most important, students must demonstrate “nonimmigrant intent” — that is, that they have ties to their home country and do not plan to stay in the United States after earning a degree. That can be particularly difficult to prove in a country in turmoil, like many of those covered by the travel ban. Another complicating factor is that students in countries, like Iran, without a U.S. Embassy or consulate must travel to another country to meet the interview requirement. Mr. Hessabi went to Dubai for his interview.

Students can be flagged for additional scrutiny.

So-called “administrative processing” is at once familiar and a mystery to campus administrators. Government officials don’t publicly talk about what goes into the extra screening or what triggers it, but when it happens, the process grinds to a halt and the applicants’ information is sent to Washington, where it is vetted by a dozen intelligence agencies. Students may be flagged for administrative processing because their name matches one on a government watch list, because they plan to major in a field that raises national-security concerns, because of their country of origin — or for some other reason.

Colleges with significant Iranian enrollments — of the six countries, Iran, by far, sends the most students to the United States, about 12,000 — report that all or most of those students go through administrative processing, which can take weeks or even months. Students have had to defer admission if the inquiry stretches past a program’s start date.

Students can be subject to special restrictions.

While many international students are granted multiple entry visas to come to the United States, allowing them to travel outside the country over the course of their studies, some students, including many from the countries affected by the travel ban, are permitted only single-entry visas. That means if they leave the United States — to visit their families, participate in academic conferences, or study or conduct research abroad — they must start the application process all over again. Since he came to the United States nine years ago, Mr. Hessabi has not returned home.

Students and scientists from a handful of countries, including Iran, also are barred from participating in certain government-supported research deemed sensitive.

Students are subject to extra screening at the airport.

“Your visa is your entry ticket,” says Adam Julian, director of international student and scholar services and outreach at Appalachian State University, but it does not guarantee admission to the United States. Customs officials can deny entry to travelers at the port of entry, including those with valid visas, if they believe the visitors are violating the terms of their visas.

Students and other travelers may also be subject to secondary screening at the airport. Mr. Julian, who is chairman of a subcommittee of Nafsa: Association of International Educators that deals with travel by international students and scholars, says he has been getting reports of an uptick in students’ being pulled aside for additional screening for the last couple of years. For a time following the Boston Marathon bombing, in 2013, the Department of Homeland Security ordered all international students to go through extra vetting.

Students are tracked.

Once international students arrive in the United States, they are monitored via a government database known as the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System. Colleges are required to use the system, which was set up after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, to enter and regularly update information about all international students, notifying federal authorities if a student moves, gets a new phone number, or changes majors. “International students,” says Jenny Bowen, associate director of international-student services at Indiana University at Bloomington, “are our most tracked visitors.”

Karin Fischer writes about international education, colleges and the economy, and other issues. She’s on Twitter @karinfischer, and her email address is karin.fischer@chronicle.com.