Image by Doruk Golcu

Each time you enter the US, you need a valid visa, usually issued by a US consular post in your home country. A majority of students hold an F1 visa; workers (postdocs, for example) usually an H-1B; some students as well as postdocs hold a J1 visa, which is officially categorized as the type for visiting scholars. Visas, even within the same category, are issued for different lengths of validity depending on the strategic relationship of your home country with the US. For example, the H-1B visa is issued in, perhaps, all the Western countries for three years, but only three months in China. This policy puts a Chinese scholar in an annoying position where s/he has to renew the visa each time s/he makes a trip outside of the US (given that one doesn’t always make two trips in three months). On the other hand, even if you hold a visa that is good for several years, you may very likely face the same situation after the previous one expires. If a new visa is required, it sometimes casts a cloud over the entire trip because getting a visa often involves many troubles.

The application process for a visa is sometimes painful. You may have to wait for a long time before being interviewed by a consular officer. While being interviewed, many of us may be familiar with the experience of having a different experience with every immigration officer; some give you a very pleasant time, others a much more disturbing one. Moreover, if you happen to come from a large country, getting a visa may take a significant chunk of time off your trip, which itself may be a mere couple of weeks. In India, for instance, there are only four cities, Chennai, Mumbai, Calcutta, and Delhi, which have US consular service. Many people have to travel great distances and pay for the travel charges and lodging for at least two nights, let alone the non-refundable application fee which has kept rising, and which is now at a peak of $131, no matter where you apply. Sometimes, one may wonder, why does it have to be so frustrating when going home?

Things became exacerbated after 9/11. There used to be a courier service to get a re-entry visa so that you didn’t have to go to the consulate in person. After 9/11, however, everyone must have a personal interview before a decision to issue a visa is made even if you’ve gone through the same procedure before. Moreover, people in certain academic backgrounds are subject to security checks, which means a long delay in their visa issuance. Unfortunately, most of us at The Rockefeller University work in the biomedical field, and are on the list. In the application form, there is now a scary question asking whether you’ve had “specialized skills or training, including firearms, explosives, nuclear, biological, or chemical experience.” Obviously we can’t lie, but, putting a yes there may detain your case for a long time. A few years ago, many people were delayed by months to get the security check cleared. The policy aroused complaints not just from students and scholars, but also from universities, institutes, and companies for obvious reasons. It is now shortened to several weeks (three to five on average), but this is still something that many can’t stand. The worst part is, you will only find out whether you are picked for security checks at the interview, and they never tell you when it’s going to be complete until after it’s done. You are therefore left in a stand-by position, not knowing when to change your flight ticket. Yes, staying at home is sweet, but on the other hand, you may just be having nightmares of missed classes, dying cells, or mis-behaving animals.

More complications arise with the visa you hold. One might be excited to learn at first that his/her spouse can come to the US on a dependent visa. However, being a dependent usually means one has no right to work or enroll in a school in the US. The only exception is J2, the dependent of a J1 visiting-scholar. Yet, once you transfer from J1 to a different visa type, H-1B, for example, your spouse cannot work anymore.

Is there a way to solve all the hassles associated with the visa? If not, there is always a long way home for many.