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| July 06, 2006 | Thursday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 9, 1427 |
Crocker says US open to Pakistani students
ISLAMABAD, July 5: US Ambassador Ryan C Crocker on Wednesday praised the Pakistani students for being best and highly motivated and assured that US was always open for them in their endeavour towards higher education.
“US encourages Pakistani students, who are among best in the world, to study in different American colleges, universities and come back to serve their country, as they would be the leaders of tomorrow,” the ambassador said while briefing the newsmen here at the US Embassy in an attempt to remove general misconceptions among US visa seekers.
The message we are trying to send is that for Pakistani students we would like to be a “destination of choice” for their higher education, the ambassador observed.
Embassy’s visa consul has been involved in education conferences and outreach programmes throughout the country to make prospective students and their parents aware of the education opportunities in the States, he explained.
Ryan C Crocker emphasized that one of the areas where both Pakistan and US should focus was the student exchange programme and said the embassy worked very hard to introduce world’s largest $150 million “Fulbright Scholarship Programme” for young Pakistanis.
Jointly funded by the governments of US and Pakistan, United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) is involved in administering the Fulbright Scholarship Programme as well as student counselling and outreach.
“Our efforts are taking off as student visa issuance to young Pakistanis is 20 per cent higher this year than the last,” the ambassador said.
“We also worked very hard to remove some of the myths about visa processes by facilitating Pakistani students, like students could come for visa interview without prior appointments.”
Though he conceded that the events of September 11 had changed some of the visa procedures but emphasized that the tragedy had not affected in any way the basic eligibility criteria for students or any kind of other visa. These are the same as had been prior to 9/11.
Explaining, he said, three elements were very essential in this regard like the applicant should be qualified, having the ability and determination to be a good student.
Secondly, the individual should be able to finance his studies for which he should also have a plan indicating how he could pay his education expenses and would not work illegally to pursue his education.
Thirdly, the student should have some reasonable ties with Pakistan so that after finishing his studies in the US institution he should come back to his country and serve the nation.
The ambassador explained that both USEFP and the embassy had also convinced a number of US colleges and universities to come to Pakistan and talk directly with the prospective students.
He was confident that in coming years many American university and college recruiters would visit Pakistan.
Later the mediamen also went around the visa section where students were being interviewed at especially designated windows for their visa processes.
US Consul General Kay Anske and Consul Non-immigration Visa Alice F Seddon told reporters that on average around 200 visa applicants were interviewed daily during summers and about 170 in winters. “Sixty per cent of them are issued visas,” Alice Seddon explained.
For interview, the student visa applicants should bring complete application forms, passport (current and all prior), I- 20 certificate of eligibility for non-immigrant student status and American Express fee receipt.
Due to security procedures, she explained, those who wanted to visit US should apply as soon as possible as the procedure may take few weeks.
Earlier Shelale Abbassi, Senior Education Advisor USEFP explained the working and function of the USEFP.
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