U.S. Visa Restrictions Hinder UNC Research

International graduate students and researchers increasingly are having difficulties obtaining visas to enter the country, and those delays are hampering scientific research at national research institutions, including UNC.

In a statement released by the National Academy of Sciences, many researchers are waiting in their countries of origin for clearance to enter the United States.

Of the roughly 7,000 graduate students at UNC, 13 percent are international students, and six of those students are having trouble entering the country, said Michael Poock, associate dean of the Graduate School.

Most of these researchers are not in the process of immigrating to the United States and are subject to a stringent background check that can involve many federal agencies, including the FBI and the CIA.

According to the NAS statement, these researchers are under increased scrutiny because of the fear that they might stay in the United States illegally or commit a terrorist act.

With increased national security concerns, as many as six agencies might need to review a visa application. If a visa is not cleared by one agency, an application can be held up in the bureaucratic shuffle.

Applications have been in limbo for as long as six months at a time without any mechanism for applicants to finding out where they are in the system as reviewers pass applications from agency to agency.

Meanwhile, applicants remain in their countries of origin and research remains unfinished, or in some cases, not even begun.

"We've had people wait five or six months, but we've also had people get them in under a month," said NAS members Lois Peterson.

With important researchers held overseas in their attempts to return to the University, projects at UNC have been put on hold. "It will certainly hamper research over the long term if it continues to be a problem," said Bob Lowman, associate vice chancellor for research and graduate studies.

Many of the students having trouble acquiring visas come from countries that are under particular scrutiny by the U.S. government, such as China and countries in the Middle East.

"I expect that we will continue to face problems based on area of study and (the student's) country of origin," Poock said.

Some students and researchers also face a more difficult time based on their area of study. Those focusing on chemistry, biology and materials sciences have faced long delays.

At UNC, 98 percent of graduate students in materials sciences are international students, and two research assistants from China are waiting for clearance to be allowed back into the United States, said Elizabeth Craig, coordinator for the Curriculum in Applied Sciences.

"It's terrible," she said. "These students went home for Christmas just like every other student, and they're being detained. If they went through the procedure before and were cleared, I don't see why the U.S. government is being so stringent about this."

One of the main complaints of those lobbying for colleagues and students' clearance is that the value of their contributions is being denied to the academic community and delaying the research that the country is engaged in.

"These (graduate students) are the very top students," Craig said.

Peterson said the stringency of the background check could be causing delays that could be doing more harm than good -- research on hold potentially could be applied for national defense. "We could be affecting our own security."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.