HYDERABAD: The recent deportation row seems not confined just to the Silicon Valley University and Northwestern Polytechnic University in the Unites States of America.
After the deportation of 19 Indian students from the San Francisco International Airport, several Indian students, who headed to the USA to join other universities, too are understood to have faced a similar treatment by American immigration officials at the Abu Dhabi International Airport on Wednesday and were sent back to India for failing to effectively answer their questions.
Among the students who returned to the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad from Abu Dhabi on Thursday were around 10 hailing from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They all have secured admission to various universities like the University of Houston-Clear Lake in Texas, Stratford University in Virginia and Kent State University in Ohio state. They left Hyderabad by an Etihad flight on December 23.
Though none of these universities is currently under the scrutiny of the American government, the students were reportedly grilled by the immigration officials for more than eight hours at the Abu Dabhi airport. Now, their future is at stake as the F1 visas of some of the students were cancelled by the US immigration officials.
Vidyasagar, one of the students who were sent back, said, “They wrote ‘Cancelled’ and a code ‘22F’ on my visa.”
After remaining stuck at the airport for a day, the students were finally asked to go back to their point of origin. According to Vidyasagar, the students were mainly questioned about their financial sources to support their education in USA and their plans to work while studying.
Despite showing all the documents including F1 visa, admission letter from university and identity cards issued by the Indian government, the students were prevented from travelling to US. However, he said, after questioning, some of the students were given permission to enter USA.
After returning to Hyderabad on Thursday, Vidyasagar contacted the Stratford University in Virginia where he had planned to join.
The university officials assured to provide him another admission letter for a new batch that would commence in February.
However, there is no possibility of joining the first batch for which the classes will begin on January 6.
He was also informed by the university that he must re-do the entire paperwork to join the next batch. He got admission to a post-graduate course in Health Sciences.
Like him, other students too, are now trying to contact their universities.
Vhr seeks List of Blacklisted u.s. Varsities
Following the woes of Telugu students who were deported by the USA, Rajya Sabha member V Hanumantha Rao on Thursday wrote to Union minister of external affairs Sushma Swaraj, requesting her to get the list of blacklisted universities from the USA government so that students wishing to take admission to American universities do not fall victims in future. Alleging that the students were made scapegoats for no fault of theirs, he appealed to the minister to order a probe into the matter in consultation with the US embassy and name the US universities that are blacklisted. He expressed his concern over the students whose future is now at stake. Though there is no official announcement from either of the USA and Indian governments on the status of SVU and NPU, the admission of several students has been stalled, he added.