Three years before Sept. 11, Amer Kamal entered a San Diego airport. He had forgotten his U.S. identification card, but had his Jordanian and Palestininian ID, as well his USM ID.
The woman at the ticket counter asked to see a form of ID, and he passed her what he had with him. She grinned and said, “I was in Jordan. It’s beautiful,” and slid him his ticket.
A year after Sept. 11, significant changes to enhance security and control immigration in the United States have been made.
“Now, because there is a misspelling of my last name on one of my ID’s I can’t even get a Maine state ID,” Kamal, an international relations and business major said.
Many prospective international students have more checkpoints before entering the United States on student visas. Their choice of study and work background is examined, determining whether or not they will be allowed to study in the United States.
“At the embassy you stand in line for hours,” Kamal said. “You get a number… If you are lucky you leave the room [with a visa].”
Kamal said when someone is awarded entrance into the United States, a party is held for him.
In August, USM’s international exchange program adopted a new program developed by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in response to the previously lax attitude toward paperwork .
Whereas the program used to be required to physically mail specific data for each foreign student to the INS, it is now networked into a nationwide system, the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), which is capable of tracking foreign visitors and student visa holders.
Dominica Cipollone, director of international exchange said that SEVIS uses an Internet-based database and links universities, educational institutions, and port authorities around the world to INS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
“A person might enter the U.S. and might not come to school,” Cipollone said. “In the past it was not reported.”
With the new system, if the individual does not come or only enrolls for a semester, it is reported to the INS.
“For me [the INS] is doing the right job. If you go here you should go to school,” Sidibe Thian, a freshman industrial technology major from West Africa said.
These changes might create tension for an individual seeking an education in the United States. The paperwork process takes longer for the student, Cipollone said.
“A person has to prove prior to entering the U.S they have a home in their country and are not coming to the U.S to stay but to study.”
Only five percent of international students applying to USM has been denied visas.
“What is better to come here across the world to get an education?” Kamal said. “Instead we get in trouble.”
A friend of Kamal who is on full scholarship to study in the United States was scheduled to come for the fall semester. The paperwork process is blocked, Kamal said.
“My friend is stuck in the Gaza strip.”