HYDERABAD: The Union government’s dilly dallying on the deportation of Indian students seeking higher education in US universities has cost the students dear. With the American universities commencing their new semester from Monday, the doors of US education are shut at least for this academic year for the hapless students who were deported from different States in the United States of America (USA), two days ago. The students who were running from pillar to post, were disenchanted and blamed the Indian government, US government and the US universities for trying to delink their deportation from the institutes which are blacklisted.
Though the US recently conveyed to India that deportation was not related to the universities, the deported students claim that those with F1 visa for Silicon Valley University (SVU) and the Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU) have been clearly targeted by the US immigration officials. Majority of the deported students who were forced to withdraw their admission, were planning to join these two institutions.
Many of them regretted for blindly following the statements of the government. Interestingly, most of the Telugu students who were deported on January 1 and 2, were among those who were stopped by Air India on December 19. After losing from both the ends, the students have decided to shelve their plans for a year.
Anand (name changed) student from Warangal, who was deported from Seattle Airport on January 1, said “I planned my journey only after the government said that these two universities were not blacklisted. Since I had all valid documents, I thought I would face no problem with the immigration clearance.” However, his assumptions proved wrong when he was deported after failing to answer the questions that were not related to his documents.
Interestingly, most of the Telugu students who were deported on January 1 and 2, were among those who were stopped by Air India on December 19.
The students have realised that US education for this academic year is a closed chapter. Meanwhile, they pointed out that it was the assurance from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) that prompted them to rebook their tickets to US. After the MEA announcement, they rebooked their tickets. Though they haven’t received refund for their cancelled tickets from Air India, they paid around `96,000 to buy new tickets with the British Airways.
After losing from both the ends, now the students have decided to shelve their US education plans for a year.
Chandrashekar from Hyderabad, who was deported on Saturday, said, he would rejoin his job that he left for higher education. Another student, Rajesh from Hyderabad even advised other students not to travel to US in the current scenario.