Congress urges Jaishankar to raise Indian student visa revocation issue with US
The Congress on Friday urged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar to raise the issue of international student visa revocation with his US counterpart Secretary Marco Rubio after the American Immigration Lawyers Association on Thursday said that 50 per cent of these cases were from India.
Senior party leader Jairam Ramesh, while expressing concern over the development, said, "A press statement issued yesterday by the American Immigration Lawyers Association is a cause for concern to us in India."
He said, "Of the 327 visa revocation cases of international students collected by the organisation so far, 50% are Indians. The reasons for revocation are random and unclear. This is leading to fear and apprehension."
"Will External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar take note and raise the concern with his US counterpart?" he asked.
In a statement, American Immigration Lawyers Association said, “The Department of State (DOS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are aggressively targeting international students, including those without a history of protest, for visa revocation, termination of their status, and removal. Late last month, Secretary Rubio reported that DOS revoked more than 300 student visas and 50% of these students were from India.”
On Thursday, in a weekly media briefing, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) acknowledged that Indian students in the US facing issues with their F-1 visas had reached out to Indian missions, which are providing them “support”.
The statement came amid mounting concern over a spate of visa revocations as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown that has affected several international students, including those from India.
“We are aware that several Indian students have received communication from the US government regarding their F-1 visa status. We are looking into the matter. Our embassy and consulates are in touch with the students to provide them support,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
