Samragyee Gautam grew up moving around frequently, and in 2016 she moved again — to America.
Gautam, an international student at the University of Idaho, came
to Idaho from Nepal. She grew up learning both Nepali and English, and with her interests in politics, she decided to move abroad to explore opportunities she didn’t have as a woman back home.
However, UI has seen a steady decline not only in international student enrollment, but a decline in the range of countries students are coming from. In 2015, the university had 766 international students from 79 different countries. As of 2019, the numbers were reduced to 652 international students from just 70 countries, according to UI’s Fall Census Overview.
President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 13769 — otherwise known as the travel ban — has been a factor in students studying abroad. According to a Washington Post article, citizens of countries such as Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria and Yemen have been barred from entering the U.S., though exceptions are being made for students from Iran, Libya and Yemen.
“The travel ban has put a damper on a number of countries that have traditionally sought an education in the United States,” Dana Brolley said, the Director of International Student, Scholar and Faculty Services for the International Programs Office at UI.
Brolley, who works with international students on a daily basis, said there have been changes not in the regulations themselves, but in how the regulations are being interpreted and applied.
“There has been a significant decrease in the number of visas that are being issued,” Brolley said. “To stay here once they’ve arrived, they have to follow a lot of regulations. They’re tracked very closely by the Department of Homeland Security.”
Within the last five years, the U.S. has begun using a computerized tracking system to keep tabs on international students’ travels. With the new system, their passport and visa numbers are tracked.
Officials can see when and where a student comes into the country and when and where they depart.
Emily Wesseling, an international student from Canada, came to the U.S.
for athletics. Like the bulk of other international students, Wesseling has an F-1 student visa.
The process for acquiring an F-1 visa, which is given to those planning to study in the U.S. for education purposes, can vary for each country. According to U.S. Department of State website, after a student is accepted to a university, they have to fill out an application, submit a photo, attend an interview and more.
The F-1 visa does not guarantee entry into the U.S. and applying for a student visa does not mean you will receive it.
“I don’t have anything in my passport,” Wesseling said. “There’s a lot of people that have an actual visa in their passport and they go through this whole interview process. I didn’t have to do any of that. I basically just submitted a form, paid the fee and they accepted my visa.”
According to the U.S. Department of State, Canadian residents hoping to attend the U.S. for education purposes can file for a variation of the F-1 visa called an F-120 form, which is a less extensive process.
For Gautam, the process proved to be more difficult.
“I had to show proof of my family’s income, proof of property,” Gautam said. “They wanted to know if I can invest money in the education system here.”
Another international student at UI, Rechelle Meade, came from Anguilla,
a British Overseas Territory. To get her student visa, Meade made her way to the U.S. embassy in Barbados — about a full day of traveling.
“It was this massive building,” Meade said. “You can’t turn back because all the doors lock behind you.”
Both Meade and Gautam described the visa process as scary because there is no guarantee you will be accepted.
“It’s very hard, I remember my friend who didn’t get it,” Gautam said. “We had the same scores, the same documents, but I got accepted and she didn’t.”
Wesseling said she assumes the reason Canadians seeking a student visa are exempt from some restrictions other international students face is a result of the two countries sitting so close together.
“Canada really has a lot of international students because they’re more welcoming and open to student visas,” Brolley said. “They also allow students to work, and our regulations don’t.”
Most jobs in the U.S. require applicants to be either citizens or green card holders. As an international student under F-1 status, Gautam doesn’t qualify. She said her difficulty getting a job under various visa requirements and the ensuing financial burden is something she carries with her every day.
“If you want to work off-campus, you can’t.” Gautam said. “The job has to have some connection to your major, you can’t just work as a waitress or barista.”
Aside from their work environments, international students run into issues in their personal lives on a daily basis. According to Brolley, everything takes international students longer because of the sheer amount of new things they must learn to navigate as a person in a foreign country.
“Lately, with the Department of Motor Vehicles, students have been having difficulty getting ID’s there,” Brolley said. “I always tell them, you don’t really want to be carrying your passport around because if you lose it, that’s not great, but they have to have some form of identification. The students have difficulties with getting an ID because the DMV is telling them they have to get a denial from the Social Security Office first — which is in Lewiston. They then have to figure out how to get to Lewiston to apply for a social security card, which they’re not eligible for because they’re not citizens.”
According to Brolley, the number one challenge international students face is befriending American students. Despite wanting desperately to make connections in their new, temporary home, they find substantial barriers in doing so.
During her freshman year, Meade said she hardly spoke to anyone at all.
“My accent was really strong and I speak really fast,” Meade said. “I hated repeating myself like 20 times for someone to understand just one sentence.”
Luckily for Gautam, UI has enough Nepali students to form an association that celebrates their culture and holidays together.
“Every February, we have this event called ‘Taste of Nepal,’ where we do cultural dances and eat cultural food,” Gautam said. “It’s just one of the ways we connect back to where we came from.”
Brolley said she wants people to know that international students are experts in different parts of the world.
“They know Nepal, they know Bangladesh, they know Nigeria, they know India, they know China,” Brolley said. “They know things we can’t possibly know. They have so much to give to our community and without them, we’re not as rich.”
Like other international students, Meade said she doesn’t mind being of a different culture. But she would have preferred to have people here that are of a similar culture to hers.
“I can never 100% be me, and that is the biggest struggle,” Meade said.
Angela Palermo can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @angelapalermo7