News

Page for recent NAGSP news and links
News of the Week, Please select the links below: 
December 15, 2009
November 10, 2009
November 3, 2009
October 19, 2009
October 8, 2009
September 14, 2009
Please see the message below from our Partner, Teach for America:
Teach For America is the national corps of outstanding individuals from all backgrounds and professional experiences who teach for two years in urban and rural public schools and become leaders in expanding educational opportunity. This fall, 7,300 corps members will be teaching in 35 regions across the country while 17,000 Teach For America alumni continue working from inside and outside the field of education for the fundamental changes necessary to ensure educational excellence and equity. Hear from other professionals and graduate students who joined the corps: http://www.teachforamerica.org/admissions/graduates_and_professionals.htm
Join the movement and sign up to learn more about the 2010 Teach For America corps: https://www.teachforamerica.org/online/info/index.jsp?action=signUp
NEXT Application Deadline: Friday, September 18th, 2009
To learn more, visit www.teachforamerica.org. Full salary and benefits. All academic backgrounds and professional experiences.
Julia Mortyakova
President & CEO
National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS) 
Research Report: My Visa Threatens my Studies 
Introduction:
There are now more than 25,000 Saudis in the U.S. The vast majority of them are students. One of the deep concerns for many of them is the visa related difficulties. The Saudi Forum in the U.S. in coordination with the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission launched a campaign under the slogan :”My visa threatens my studies” to explore these issues and concerns and then try to communicate with related governmental and public entities to try to make things better for the benefit of both the American and Saudi side.
The attached study describes these difficulties in great details. It is based on a survey conducted by campaign team and taken by more than 3,000 Saudi students in the U.S. The main problems that appeared were: visa denial, visa delay, the high rate of extended stay in the U.S. of Saudi students during their course of studies to avoid mentioned visa problem, and lastly, the treatment those students receive at the ports of entry to the U.S. At the end of the report a number of recommendations were given to both American and Saudi government and also to the students themselves.
We hope you find this report useful and informative. We look forward to your support to our cause.
Basil AsSadhan of behalf of the campaign team members. For a PDF version of the report click here.
visa@saudiforum.us
Abstract:
This study addresses a number of difficulties that Saudi students face during their visit to the United States. These difficulties are, the delay of issuance or renewal of student visas, the denial of issuance or renewal of student visas, the high rate of extended stay in the U.S. of Saudi students during their course of studies, and the difficulties associated with airport procedures during students’ entry into the U.S. An online survey was utilized as the method of research for this study. The survey was offered for ten weeks and had more then three-thousand participants. Additionally, the authors of this study have communicated through in person meetings with several Saudi and U.S. government officials about the results of this study along with the problems that Saudi students face while completing studies of higher education in the U.S.
According to the U.S. Department of State, 10% of Saudi student petitioners are forced to wait more than three months before they obtain a response from the U.S. embassy to their visa application. This delay in issuance or renewal of student visas leads to a higher rate of students being forced to drop at least one semester. Moreover, 40% of Saudi students wait between one to three months for a visa response. This delay (1-3 months) implies spending most of the summer break in Saudi Arabia waiting for a response. The campaign’s study found no clear reason as to why the U.S. embassy imposed such a delay in visa response to petitioners. However, the study revealed that the following categories tend to have higher rates in waiting longer before they get a response, men, people with common names, and those who experienced interrogations by U.S. law enforcement agents while staying in the U.S.
According to the campaign’s survey, 8% of all Saudi students’ visa issuance/renewal applications were denied. The study found that a major role in Saudi student visa issuance/renewal depends greatly on the evaluation conducted by employees at the U.S. embassy to the petitioner’s academic performance and to his/her ability to successfully finish his/her study in the U.S. However, according to the survey, 60% of the petitioners who were denied visa did not indicate having any academic problem. In addition, the study found that the rate of visa denial increases for men and those who were interrogated by U.S. law enforcement agents while staying in the U.S.
The study found that 23% of the participants in the survey indicated that they suffered family, social, psychological, or financial consequences because of the difficulties associated with visa processing. The study also includes qualitative data in the form of in person interviews, which reflect these consequences. The study did not find a correlation between the level of participation in student organizations on campus or Islamic centers, and facing difficulties in visa processing.
The study found that visa processing problems have led 52% of survey participants to plan after their current visa expires to stay in the U.S. until they graduate. They do so because they fear that their visas renewal might not be processed in a timely manner or might even be denied. This trend had family, social, psychological, or academic consequences on 44% of these participants because of their inability to visit their relatives during times of happiness or sadness, or during times of emergency. The study also includes qualitative data in the form of in-person interviews of such consequences.
Additionally, 8% of the participants said they waited for more than six hours during their entry into the U.S., while 80% of the participants said that they felt they were targeted because of their country of origin during airport entry procedures. Furthermore, 13% of the participants mentioned incidents of mistreatment by the Customs and Border Protection officers. The study includes qualitative data in the form of in-person interviews of such mistreatment.
This study is concluded with recommendations to the American and Saudi governments and also includes recommendations to Saudi students in order to mitigate or eliminate the difficulties in student visa issuances.
There is still time to win your way to Annual Conference through our GradShare scholarship

The local chapter from the university with the most participation on GradShare wins $700 towards their travel and attendance to our conference in Lincoln, NE November 14th – 17th, 2009.
 
Every question, answer, or comment you add through Monday, October 5th counts towards your school’s score and the university with the most participation per-capita wins the $700 scholarship.  To find out more, and to see how your school stacks up, check out the contest page at http://www.gradshare.com/pages/wiki/NAGPSContest.
 
Plus, every time you participate, you’ll be entered into the monthly raffle for a Flip video camera.
 
GradShare is an online community of fellow grads from around the US and Canada, coming together to discuss the challenges of graduate life.   You can use GradShare to browse the current discussions, read Expert Advice from academic professionals, or ask a challenging question of your own.  Learn more at www.gradshare.com
 
 - Julia Mortyakova
President & CEO
National Association of Graduate-Professional Students (NAGPS)