Saudis Head to U.S. Campuses
Saudis Head to U.S. Campuses
Date: Friday, November 17, 2006 2:05 PM
<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1591 -- 11/17/2006 >>>>>
On 09/11/2006 I published a newsletter titled: "Bush gives Fast-Track for
Saudi Students" (No. 1552). In it, I explained how President Bush made a
deal Saudi King Abdullah to allow thousands of Saudi students to come to
our universities. Basically we traded our universities and national
security for assurances that the Saudis will continue to pump enough oil to
keep prices down.
Now, thanks to Bush, the Saudis are converging on our campuses.
Here is a list of 9/11 terrorists that used student visas. Most of the 9/11
terrorists came to the U.S. on tourist visas and then attempted to get
student visas. Hanjour actually entered on a student visa to study English,
but didn't attend a single class.
Mohammed ATTA
Marwan AL-SHEHHI
Ziad JARRAH
NawfaL HAZMI
Hani HANJOUR
Foreign students don't come to the U.S. just to study. They also take jobs.
This excerpt shows just how easy it is for employers to hire foreign
students -- it's easier than hiring H-1Bs!
http://international.tamu.edu/iss/currentstudent/employstudent.pdf
"How To Hire a Texas A&M University International Student"
Hiring an international student to work is much easier than one
may think. Although the main purpose of any student visa is to study
in the United States, both visa classifications allow for the
employment of these students. An F-1 student has a maximum of 12
months of practical training, and it may be used during and/or after
the degree is earned. The application for this employment permission
is reviewed and recommended by ISS at Texas A&M, with final
authorization from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
(USCIS).
There is no paperwork for you, the employer, to complete.
Read this and you will understand why I keep saying the F-4 visa in the
Skil bill is even worse than H-1B. Keep in mind that there will be no
numerical limits to the F-4.
An F-1 student does not even need a job offer to apply for this work
permission.
Once these foreign students have jobs, Americans are never given a chance
to compete for the job, since it's easy for employers to convert the
student visa into an H-1B. Once a foreign student takes a job it's
effectively lost to U.S. workers.
If desired, an employer may extend employment beyond the maximum
training period allowed to F-1 student visa holders by USCIS.
It is possible to do this by changing a students visa status to
H1B, a temporary work visa which allows from one to six years of
professional employment.
To read more on our student visa system, click on this link:
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/research/wpaper.nsf/rwp/RWP02-026/$File/rwp02_026_borjas_rev1.pdf
An Evaluation of the Foreign Student Program
by George J. Borjas
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/10/AR2006111001628.html
Saudis Again Head to U.S. Campuses
Record Demand Ends Years-Long Decline, Notably Since 9/11
By Caryle Murphy and Susan Kinzie
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, November 11, 2006; A11
A record number of nearly 11,000 Saudis are pursuing higher education in
the United States, reversing a years-long decline in students coming from
the oil-rich kingdom, particularly after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The surge is a result of recent measures taken by the U.S. and Saudi
governments, including a major Saudi government scholarship program for
study abroad, launched last year, and implementation of more organized
procedures for issuing student visas by the U.S. Embassy in the kingdom.
The education initiative, which also envisions a second scholarship program
to enable U.S. scholars to study and teach in Saudi Arabia, arose from a
mutual desire to counter growing hostility between the populations of both
nations sparked by the discovery that 15 of the 19 hijackers Sept. 11,
2001, were Saudi citizens, according to officials on both sides and Middle
East experts.
"At the government level, relations are strong. . . . But at the popular
level, there's a huge amount of mistrust and antipathy," said F. Gregory
Gause III, a University of Vermont professor who specializes in Saudi
affairs. "This [scholarship program] is a good step towards trying to
dissipate some of that mistrust and antipathy."
The Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki al-Faisal, said in
a recent interview that the large number of Saudis choosing to study in the
United States signifies "that Saudi youth still look upon the United States
as a means of achieving their ambitions in life by acquiring the skills and
the know-how that your academic institutions provide for."
Saad Mohammed Abuabat, 23, an accounting major at Catholic University who
arrived 10 months ago, agreed. "Who doesn't want to study in the U.S.?" he
asked. "I don't know anyone."
A degree from the United States "means a lot" to companies at home, Abuabat
said. "They prefer you to [a] guy with [a] degree from Saudi Arabia."
Saudi cultural attache Mazyed Ibrahim Almazyed said that 10,936 Saudis are
enrolled at 733 U.S. educational institutions across the country. He said
he expects an additional 3,000 students to arrive next semester, bringing
the total to about 14,000. Virginia ranks fourth -- behind California,
Florida and Colorado -- in the number of Saudis at its schools: 637.
The number of Saudi students now here surpasses the peak academic year of
1980-81, when 10,440 Saudis were enrolled in U.S. schools, according to the
New York-based Institute of International Education, a nonprofit that works
with the State Department. The current figure is also nearly twice the
5,579 Saudi students counted here by the institute in September 2001.
State Department officials interviewed for this article declined to be
named. And the department's public affairs office declined to provide an
official to speak on the record about the increased number of Saudi
students here. But in an e-mail statement, Thomas Farrell, deputy assistant
secretary of state for academic programs, said, "[T]he significant growth
we are seeing in educational exchange between our two countries can only
increase the mutual benefit derived from leadership development,
skills-building, understanding and respect."
Turki, the Saudi ambassador, said the bilateral education effort grew out
of the April 2005 meeting between President Bush and King Abdullah, then
the crown prince, in Crawford, Tex., when the two "agreed that they would
encourage more Saudis to come to the United States," whether as students,
business people or medical patients.
Even before the Crawford meeting, "there was unanimity of opinion that the
Saudi-U.S. relationship, especially in the area of creating clear
understanding between Americans and Saudis, had suffered from neglect," one
State Department official said.
Saudi students began coming to the United States in large numbers in the
late 1970s. After 1981, their numbers gradually declined, in part because
higher education facilities were built in the kingdom but also because
their government put less stress on getting international experience.
Then the 2001 terrorist attacks sent bilateral relations into a downward
spiral and for a few months afterward no Saudis were given student visas,
with only "a trickle" granted in 2002, Almazyed said.
According to the Institute of International Education, the number of Saudi
students dropped 25.2 percent in the 2002-03 academic year, and by the
2004-05 term, only 3,035 Saudis enrolled -- a level not seen since the
mid-'70s.
"For Saudi students to have a full, clear understanding of America, of its
culture and of its educational system, they have to come and interact with
Americans," said Almazyed, who received his doctorate in education from the
University of Oregon in 1975.
One State Department official said that after Sept. 11, "the bottom fell
out in applications [for student visas] around the world, because there was
a strong feeling not to apply because you wouldn't stand a chance."
U.S. officials are trying to dispel that perception, he added. "Apply.
You'll have a fair shot" is how he characterized the message they now aim
to convey.
In addition, visa processing around the world was slowed by several
requirements imposed after Sept. 11, according to another State Department
official. Those included in-person interviews and fingerprinting for most
applicants, and a review by law enforcement authorities of some visa
requests.
Also, a 2002 law directed at Saudi Arabia mandated the presence in that
country of visa security officers from the Department of Homeland Security,
whose job is to screen all visa requests and, if necessary, relay them to
Washington for more intense checking.
During the height of delays in 2002 and 2003, some Saudi applicants waited
six to 12 months for a visa if their documents had to be sent to Washington
for added review, the State Department official said.
At present, the average wait for an interview is 98 days; once that occurs,
"it takes about a week to get the visa," the official said. Now, he added,
"the biggest challenge for us in Saudi Arabia for student visas is the
demand. There are more Saudi students applying for visas than ever before."
According to State Department figures, 9,471 Saudis were given student
visas in the year ending Sept. 30, a 297 percent increase over the 2,383
issued the year before.
Dalal Ali Al Kandil, who is working toward a master's degree in
instructional technology at George Mason University, said she was "shocked
when they said you have to make an appointment [for an interview] four
months prior to traveling. Saudis were never treated that way. I understand
security and everything. But it hurts me a little bit."
Still, this country remained her first choice for study abroad because it
"is known for its very good education," said Kandil, a teacher and one of
the 1,653 female scholarship recipients in the United States.
"I never felt I would be in any kind of trouble or danger" in the United
States, said Kandil, who arrived two months ago and lives in Fairfax.
And, she added, "the best thing about America, no one looks at you like
you're so stupid. . . . You can ask the dumbest question, and they'll
answer you with a smile."
Fahad Al Dhelaan, 20, a junior at George Washington University studying
computer science, said the scholarship program aimed "to send this
generation of students outside to get . . . another perspective back into
the country in a few years. I think it will work, I think it will work
fabulous."
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