US: Foreign students face higher visa costs

A plan by the American Department of Homeland Security to double visa fees for foreign students seeking to study in the US has raised concern among colleges that the increased cost may cause a decline in enrolments.

The fee increases were proposed by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a division of Homeland Security. The Student and Exchange Visitor Programme was implemented after 11 September 2001 in response to a Congressional mandate to track international students.

Under the plan, the visa fee for non-immigrant students will double from $100 to $200 and certification fees paid by host universities will increase from $350 to $1,700 - if the rule changes are implemented in October.

Critics claim the higher charges could have a negative impact not only on the big universities with a large foreign student enrolment but could also seriously affect smaller institutions that rely on the fees to offset costs and subsidise scholarships for local students.

According to an Open Doors 2007 report, published by the Institute of International Education, applications from foreign students in 2006 rose by only 3% last year. More worrying for the universities was the fact that applications from India showed no increase although that nation traditionally sends the largest number of students.

The report noted that among the top 20 countries sending students to America, 43% were from India, China, Republic of Korea and Japan. At the lower end, Colombia, France, Kenya and Vietnam ranked 16-20, sending only 4% of the total in 2006-07.

Since 2001, more stringent visa regulations have been cited as a major reason foreign student enrolments have fallen at US universities. Countries such as Great Britain, France, Germany and Australia now actively recruit international students and vie for market share.

As major Asian nations improve their own higher education systems, potential international students have incentives to stay in their home countries. The increased competition may signal a stabilisation of international student numbers in America that is lower than in past decades.

The proposed increase in visa fees is intended to support four major upgrades and improvements:

- The Student and Exchange Visitor Information System database will include features to ease visa application and processing for applicants and host universities.
- Field liaisons will provide one-on-one customer support to applicants.
- Additional Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents will follow up on alerts received from university administrators.
- A new recertification process, also mandated by the US Congress, will allow participating universities to maintain the integrity of their international student programmes.

For the sixth consecutive year, the private University of Southern California in Los Angeles enrolled most international students - 7,115 in 2006-07, followed by Columbia and New York universities, both private institutions in New York City. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was fourth, and Purdue University in Indiana was fifth.

A Student and Exchange Visitor Programme quarterly review covering October to December 2007 notes that 35% of the programme's approved schools are in California, New York, Florida, Texas and Pennsylvania. But six states - California, New York, Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois and Florida - host more than half of all foreign students.