Iranian Students Set to Start at U.S. Universities Are Barred From Country

[Babak]

At least a dozen Iranian students who were set to begin graduate programs in engineering and computer science say their visas were abruptly canceled and they were barred from their flights to the United States this month.

The sudden batch of visa cancellations, which came at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, set off a scramble by university officials, lawmakers, the students’ union and Iranian-American advocates to figure out what had happened.

The State Department said that there had been no change in policy regarding student visas, and higher education officials say that visa problems arise every fall for some of the hundreds of thousands of international students who travel to attend American colleges and universities.

But the students, most of whom were headed to schools in the University of California system, say their visas were revoked at the last minute, without any warning or explanation. Most were prevented from boarding flights in Iran, and others from boarding connecting flights in the Persian Gulf. One was detained at Boston Logan International Airport and then turned back.

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Many of the students said that a State Department webpage showed their visa cases had been updated around Aug. 30, and they were prevented from boarding in early September.

All of that came before a Sept. 14 attack on two key Saudi oil installations, which has escalated a standoff between the United States and its ally Saudi Arabia against Iran.

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[President Trump announced a new round of sanctions against Iran on Friday.]

A law enacted in 2012 under President Barack Obama requires the United States government to deny visas to Iranian students whose coursework would prepare them to work in the energy or nuclear sectors in their home country. Consular officials have wide discretion on how to interpret the statute and put it in place, said Jamal Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, a Washington-based group.

Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, also based in Washington, said he appreciated that the 2012 law had sought to prevent knowledge gained in the United States from being used in the service of the Iranian government.

But he pointed to the difficulty in predicting how students would use technical skills that are widely sought after and applicable in many industries. He suggested a more radical approach: to overturn the Trump administration’s travel ban and require Iranian students in sensitive fields to stay in the United States after graduation.


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Most Iranians cannot obtain visas to travel to the United States because of the travel ban on visitors from their country, as well as from Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, North Korea and Venezuela. But there are narrow exemptions, including for students. Most of the students who were barred had been given single-entry visas, and were prepared to go years without seeing family members who would not have been able to visit them.

In phone interviews and emails, the students said they were crestfallen. Some had left high-level jobs or sold their homes, or had turned down opportunities in Europe or Canada. Most said their studies had been fully funded, and many had been slated to begin teaching or research positions in addition to their studies.

“I feel I’m damaged emotionally, financially, academically,” said Peyman, 23, who was supposed to begin a degree in electrical engineering at the University of California at San Diego. He asked to be identified only by his first name because he did not want to jeopardize his chances of getting another visa.

Peyman said that he had been barred from a connecting flight in Qatar this month and that an airline employee had scrawled “CANCELLED” across his visa in pen, saying the instructions to do so had come from the Department of Homeland Security.

The State Department does not release data on visa revocations, and the department said it could not release information about individual cases.

Mr. Abdi, the president of the National Iranian American Council, said the group normally hears about visa denials, not last-minute revocations. But new vetting procedures — including reviewing social media information from visa applicants — have been “a black box,” he said.

The student workers in the University of California system are represented by the United Automobile Workers Local 2865. Its president, Kavitha Iyengar, said in a statement that her members “do not deserve to be discriminated against.”


https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/20/u...nts-visas.html

[Enr1989]

Here in Italy Iranian residents are getting their bank accounts shut down, no explanation from banks.
I

[Babak]

Here in Italy Iranian residents are getting their bank accounts shut down, no explanation from banks.
I

Probably the kids of the mullahs. Theyre doing it canada and london too

[Kamal900]

The western world is such a cuck place to a point that they baring the Iranian expats their basic human rights just to please the Jews and Israel. Disgusting.

[lameduck]

USA and West have immense technological cushion over rest of the world , its others who need them to bridge gap not they need others, even china always had the policy of restraint and working toward technological transfer for decades which is bearing fruit now as high impact index of chinese reserach publications is incraesing. It amazes me how some middle eastern countries think they can challenge the most powerful force in the history of mankind.

Anyways poor students , their lifetime chance to study in US universities got destroyed and they will loss a precious acadamic years.

[Babak]

USA and West have immense technological cushion over rest of the world , its others who need them to bridge gap not they need others, even china always had the policy of restraint and working toward technological transfer for decades which is bearing fruit now as high impact index of chinese reserach publications is incraesing. It amazes me how some middle eastern countries think they can challenge the most powerful force in the history of mankind.

Anyways poor students , their lifetime chance to study in US universities got destroyed and they will loss a precious acadamic years.

They got balls bro. Just like arabs who had balls to defeat both Roman and Persian empires.

[Oghuz]

They got balls bro. Just like arabs had balls to defeat both Roman and Persian empires.

arabs were also ruled by Persian empires for centuries.

[Oghuz]

They got balls bro. Just like arabs had balls to defeat both Roman and Persian empires.

arabs were also ruled by Persian empires for centuries.

[ixulescu]

They got balls bro. Just like arabs who had balls to defeat both Roman and Persian empires.

Why do they want to study in the US if they despise it so much?
Stay the fuck at home.

[Babak]

Why do they want to study in the US if they despise it so much?
Stay the fuck at home.

Despise who? Iranians don't despise the U.S, but mullahs have been leaching off of western society though.