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Under long-standing INS policy, an application is considered "abandoned" if
an applicant leaves the United States while it is pending.
Last month, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would dismantle the
INS and replace it with separate enforcement and service agencies that would
be part of the Justice Department.
INS allowed students to take courses while visa status changes were pending,
though it has since outlawed the practice.
The report also found that the INS's system for monitoring and tracking
foreign students is "antiquated and inadequate" and questioned whether a
congressionally mandated Internet-based system to improve student tracking
will be fully implemented by the January 2003 deadline -- as Ashcroft has
promised.
The Justice Department said this month that the system, known as the Student
and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), will be up and running by
July 1. The system is designed to provide up-to-date computerized information
on 1 million non-immigrant foreign students studying in the United States at
any time, including name changes and new dropouts.
June 2004 - notes from program directors....
Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 11:48 AM
One of our PGY2s on a J1 recently returned home to India because of a parents
illness and subsequent death. He has been having a lot of trouble getting
back because the consulate is now requiring a personal interview to stamp
passport for return visit and it takes a couple of months to set up the
visit. In addition, he told us by phone that according to the local papers
the consulate is not even processing H1 travel requests and that if he had
gone back home with an H1 he might not have be able to return at all. We are
unable to verify this change in policy at present but I thought you all would
like to know this experience... |
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