Students sent back from US can reapply, says US official

Hyderabad: Two months after students from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were sent back from the US, Michael Pelletier, the deputy chief of mission in India, said on Tuesday that students can reapply for education in the US with valid documents and visa.
During a press interaction in the city, Pelletier claimed that the students were turned back by immigration officials, on “case-by-case basis“ .“Anyone is free to apply for visa if they feel their realities and facts on ground (on the basis of which they were earlier rejected) have changed. Since it's a lengthy and expensive process, students must do their own research and explore all the resources made available by the US government,“ said Pelletier.
There are close to 500 students who were sent back by the immigration officials from the US over the past two months.
Most of the deported students had sought admission into the Northwestern Polytechnic University, Fremont and the Silicon Valley University, San Jose. While students were sent back by va rious airlines citing a letter from the US Customs and Border Protection agency which claimed that the two universities were under scrutiny, the deputy chief of mission clarified that they the universities were not `blacklisted'.
“The universities can either issue i20 documents or cannot. If they are doing so, then they certainly are not blacklisted,“ said Pelletier, adding that the universities are reviewed by the government regularly.
He even refrained from commenting on the harrowing experiences shared by students who were allegedly handcuffed and put behind bars before being sent back to India. “Officials at the port of entry have the authority to send back those whose reason for entry do not align with their visa. Ultimately it's on the students to follow visa rules,“ he said as he passed the buck on to the students.
Pelletier stated that the US government is fighting to “ramp up resources“ in the two states of AP and Telangana to counsel students preparing to study in the US.