Colleges wrestle with tracking foreign students

The INS is working to implement the electronic database, which it hopes to have in place by Jan. 31, said Chris Bentley, INS spokesman. After the first attack on the World Trade Center, in February 1993, Congress ordered the creation of a system to track foreign students, Bentley said. Eight years l...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inGannett News Service p. 1
Main Author Waldman, Alison
Format Newsletter
LanguageEnglish
Published McLean USA Today, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc 06.12.2002
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:The INS is working to implement the electronic database, which it hopes to have in place by Jan. 31, said Chris Bentley, INS spokesman. After the first attack on the World Trade Center, in February 1993, Congress ordered the creation of a system to track foreign students, Bentley said. Eight years later, such a system still had not been implemented. Accepting new foreign students for the upcoming semester will hinge on a school's compliance with the new program, Bentley said. New students, who must obtain certain INS forms to secure a visa from the consulate in their country, will not receive the necessary paperwork unless they are entered in the database. While the INS spent years developing the program, the implementation was fast-tracked after Sept. 11, raising concerns at universities across the country about the possibilities of technical problems with the new system, said Ursula Oaks, a spokeswoman for NAFSA: the Association of International Educators, based in Washington, D.C.