More than four-dozen foreign students who’d -hoped- to attend the University of Iowa have had their visas denied by the U-S government. The 51 students had already been accepted by the U-of-I to start this semester. Diana Davies, director of International Programs, says about the same number of visas were denied last summer, before the nine-eleven attacks. She says the numbers are up this year, as nationwide it looks like 10-percent fewer visas are being issued nationwide.Of the 51 students denied visas, 43 are Chinese. The others are from India, Ghana and Vietnam. Davies says most of the visas were denied because the students were not able to prove they’d go back to China when their educations in the U-S were complete. She says there are situations where students have two or three minutes to convince officials that they intend to return to China after their studies. Davies says some of the students will likely try to come to the U-S again next year, but for others, their educations, finances and futures may suffer due to the visa denials. She says many of them have already lined up loans and student assistantships. She says it also hurts the university, which had been depending on the students.About 18-hundred international students are now at the U-of-I from more than 100 countries.
Iowa's Radio News Network
