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Journalism of Courage
In a moving X thread, an assistant professor at UC Davis highlighted how the hard work, money, and long preparation of students can be rendered useless within minutes by visa officers who refuse to grant visas to students who have been accepted into US universities.
Linguistics professor Masoud Jasbi pointed out that often the visa applications of even the most ‘stellar’ students are denied because the visa granting officer was “not getting the right vibes for whatever reason!”
He points out that clauses like 214b are used as a “black check” for visa rejection. As per the US Embassy website, under section 214(b) applications can be denied if an applicant fails to credibly demonstrate that “they will depart at the end of their authorised stay and that their intended activities in the United States will be consistent with the visa status”.
In his X thread, Jasbi mentions that a student who was granted admission to a US college was told to prove that he will return to Iran, his home country. People often try to prove their intention of returning by showing that they have family connections, jobs, or property in their native country. Students from underprivileged backgrounds often do not have the latter two things in their name.
“Moreover, if the US really wants students to go back to their countries after graduation, then why does the law also have paths to jobs and residency like OPT after graduation? Does the US want good talent to stay in the US or not?! Can the government make up its mind?” Jasbi questions.
Jasbi’s tweets have so far gathered over 80,000 likes since they were posted yesterday. In the comments, many shared similar experiences and questioned why visa laws are loosely defined and executed.
An ex-diplomat wrote, “when I was a visa officer I was uncomfortable with the arbitrary & vindictive attitudes some of my colleagues would show, but now that I’m out and people share stories with me…man, what the hell is going on out there. refusing fully funded PhDs to Johns Hopkins?”
