The holidays tend to be a wrenching time for international students at Westchester Community College, many of whom cannot travel home because of the risk of being denied admission back into the United States.

Foreign-born students attended an open-ended discussion last week with an immigration attorney, and such travel questions kept coming up. Many students came to the United States as nannies or tourists, then obtained a new status as visiting students. That technicality causes a big problem when it comes to travel, even though the students are perfectly legal.

A spokesman at U.S. Customs and Border Protection explained it to me this way: Because U.S. visas are not issued to people who are already in this country, these students (who came as nannies or tourists) are not given a traditional visa that allows them to come and go from the United States. Instead, their student status lasts only until they leave the country. So if they leave, they are taking a big chance. They would have to visit a U.S. consulate and hope to be granted a student visa from the State Department. Since 9/11, that has become more difficult, according to Ruben Barato, the college’s coordinator of international and immigrant student affairs.

Students have to be prepared, then, to stay put in the United States for years. Inevitably, family emergencies happen back home and cause some excruciating decisions.

Below is the story I wrote last week.

November 20, 2008

Leah Rae
The Journal News

With the holidays approaching, Ruben Barato knows he will have to have serious chats with some of the international students at Westchester Community College: He may have to warn them not to go home.

Many of those enrolled legally as foreign students are taking a chance if they return to their home countries, because they would need to apply to a U.S. consulate for permission to re-enter the United States. There are no guarantees of obtaining such a visa, and since Sept. 11, 2001, the process has become more difficult and unpredictable, said Barato, the college’s coordinator of international and immigrant student affairs.

Underscoring that point yesterday was immigration attorney Robin Bikkal, who visited campus to answer questions from students.

“Like she said, it depends on your luck,” said Lydia Penna, a 24-year-old student from Brazil who has not been to her home country in two years. “I don’t know if I want to take the risk.”

Many students, like Penna, initially came to the United States as an au pair or as a tourist or the family member of a diplomat. They later apply for a new status as international students. But unlike those who apply from abroad, such international students are not granted a visa that lets them come and go. Instead, their status expires when they leave the U.S.

In their home country, they must apply to a consular official, who has wide discretion over whether to grant a student visa or not, Bikkal said.

“If my client says, ‘What do you think, should I stay or should I go?’ My answer usually is, stay,” she told about 25 students gathered in the college library. Sometimes, Barato said, it’s easier for parents to come visit the student than the other way around.

About 200 people are enrolled at the college under student visas, including 30 in the English-as-a-Second-Language program, Barato said. About 2,300 of the 13,000 students at Westchester Community College are foreign born, Barato said, and another 6,000 immigrants are enrolled in the college’s English language classes.

Maria Reyes, a 22-year-old student of international business, was calculating the odds of going home to Ecuador for Christmas 2009. Would the new White House administration make a difference in her ability to travel? Would she be granted a visa to return, given that she has a sponsor in here who is formally responsible for her? She worried about the choice she would face if she needed to return home for a funeral.

“It’s hard because you never know,” she said after the discussion. “I just think that if you have a student visa, there shouldn’t be any problems at all for you to go back to your country and come back. If you have been illegal here and done something wrong, of course you should have problems. But if you’re a student and you have found a sponsor who’s supporting you … I don’t think that should be a problem.”