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6-month moratorium on student visas proposed

United States Senator Dianne Feinstein has proposed a 6-month moratorium on all foreign student visas in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon near Washington DC.

In an announcement on Thursday, Feinstein said the legislation was necessary after the Federal Bureau of Investigation disclosed last week that Hani Hanjour, one of the suspected hijackers, entered the country on a student visa.

Hanjour, who was believed to be the pilot in the terrorist team that crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon, was supposed to enrol in an English language program at Oakland's Holy Names College, a small Catholic university.

In announcing her legislation, Feinstein said the current student visa system was ripe with abuses that made it an easy point of entry for terrorists.

About half a million people enter the US each year on student visas and there is no adequate system in place to catch those who either don't enrol or drop out.

"Today, there is little scrutiny given to those who claim to be foreign students," Feinstein said. "In fact, the foreign student program is one of the most unregulated and exploited visa categories."

In her proposal, Feinstein said that 245,000 foreign students had entered the US so far this year. Between 1999 and 2000, the State Department issued 3,370 visas to people from countries on America's terrorist watch list, she added.

Feinstein's plan would suspend the issuance of all new visas for 6 months while authorities improve their monitoring and regulation of the program. Current visa holders would not be affected.

In addition to the temporary moratorium, Feinstein's legislation would tighten data collection and electronic tracking of foreign students by the Immigration and Naturalisation Service and force greater accountability on schools in the visa process.

The INS would be given $32.3 million to begin implementing a more stringent system, in which visa holders would be fingerprinted and photographed, along with their spouse and children. Procedural changes in the visa process would include an added preliminary application to the INS and extensive background checks before the visa is approved by the State Department.

Schools, for their part, would be required to sign an affidavit acknowledging their responsibility for visa compliance. They would also report to the INS on a quarterly basis about each student's academic status, the types of courses undertaken and any disciplinary actions.

Feinstein said all of these changes were long overdue and, in fact, many were required by a previous legislation passed in the wake of the first World Trade Centre bombing.

"The Congress enacted a law in 1996 to require the INS to collect important data on foreign students following the first WTC bombing when it was found that one of the terrorists was here on an expired student visa," she said.

Although the legislation has a long road to travel before it becomes law, the senator's announcement drew swift criticism in her home state, which has one of the largest and best state university systems in the country. Many decried it as severe anti-immigrant legislation that aims to take advantage of the current climate of intense fear.

Spokespersons for the University of California system said they could not comment on the plan until they met with Feinstein. But many students in the Bay Area expressed fears that they would be unfairly scrutinised and penalised by the proposed changes.

"In the wake of recent events, I understand where all this is coming from. But they are targeting the wrong group of people," Shriram Ramanathan, the head of the Indian Students Association at Stanford University, said.

"If you look at just the numbers, not only the students but all the universities will be severely affected by any moratorium."

Ramanathan, a graduate student in material sciences, commented on Feinstein's data collection proposal.

"If they are doing better background checks, then it makes sense," he said. "But if they are doing regular surveillance, it will be taken in a very bad spirit. It definitely violates some of your freedom."

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