A startling fact has been revealed about students going
abroad. Due to recent attacks in Paris, Indian students are being denied or
deported back without any fault. Many are calling it a pre-election rhetoric or
post Paris and St Bernardino paranoia.
Although these students had the necessary documents like valid F-1 student visas issued by US missions in India with the requisite I-20 forms from educational institutions certifying their admission still they were sent back to home.
Almost 60-70 students have been sent back home which is a large number despite efforts made by New Delhi. We made a strong request to Washington in order to honor the visas of students.
This procedure of deporting started after the incident of 2 terrorist attacks in St Bernardino by a Pakistani couple on December 2nd with Air India was asked to fly back with 14 students (Indian). These students were going to US to join two blacklisted schools.
They were supposed to join Silicon Valley University (SVU) in San Jose and Northwestern Polytechnic (NPU) in Fremont and both are stated to be blacklisted, however they deny this fact.
Not only they denied these allegations but NPU blamed Air India for this mess which declined to seat US-bound students. Air India claimed that it was informed by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) about the two schools being blacklisted and under supervision.
Further blaming Air India, NPU suggested that it was not allowing students to board who wanted to join NPU as it had to fly back (due to individuals being denied entry).
Due to all these denials, Air India resorted to defensive mode i.e. they wouldn't bring Indian students unless they commit to pay for their return if they are denied entry.
Not only these two schools, but students coming from Chicago or New York to join other reputed schools were denied entry.
Te US reacted diplomatically at this issue stating that they are not denying entry on a large scale basis and said that CBP agents decide each student's case differently.
It was surprising to find that students going abroad didn't even knew about the courses which they wanted to pursue there. They were not aware about where they would stay or how they would meet their expenses as they aren't allowed to work.
It was found that most of the students who were denied belonged to Andhra Pradesh but it's not only Indian students who are denied entry, Chinese students were also not allowed assuring any discrimination on grounds of nationality.
In a posting on NPU's website, its President, Peter Hsieh said that students joining were allowed entry in US if they had proper documentation and were able to answer questions. He also wrote that the entry is not only limited to NPU students but other foreign travelers were also denied.