Logo of Sharif University of Technology, whose alumni had hoped to meet in California
Sharif University of Technology
Dozens of Iranian scientists and engineers who arrived in the United States last week had their visas revoked upon arrival and were asked to leave the country.
The Iranians, whose visas were approved months ago, were due to attend a meeting in California of the Sharif University of Technology Association (SUTA), a global organisation for alumni of Iran's top scientific university.
SUTA's founding president Fredun Hojabri told SciDev.Net that after a two-month delay for security checks, US consulates had granted visas for about half of the 250 Iranians who had applied.
"But when they arrived at the US airports they were told that their visas had been cancelled and they had entered the country illegally," said Hojabri, a former professor at the University of California in San Diego.
"They were handcuffed, interrogated, mistreated, detained in prison cells and sent back the next day," he said.
The US State Department would not comment specifically on the situation but a spokesperson said visas could be revoked at any time if there are "indications of possibility of ineligibility for admission".
Hojabri believes the decision to revoke the visas was political.
"I am afraid that it was based on the assumption that by humiliating these respected Iranians, they would blame Iran and put the Iranian government under pressure to change its policies," he said.
"But the result was quite the opposite. It gave the Iranian government another justification for its policies toward the United States," says Hojabri.
The SUTA meeting was tied to the 100th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and featured presentations about it and recent earthquakes in Iran.
Comments
Glenn R. Morales
(
United States of America
)
6 February 2009
US Revoked visas attend the INA law. US Visas can be revoked in airports, borders or ports. Find in www.usavisasonline.com more details and experiences. Revoked visas require legal assistance to solve the situation in US Consulates or Dept of State
Glenn R. Morales
(
United States of America
)
29 October 2009
U.S. CONSULATES BY GLENN R MORALES, ATTORNEY AT LAW, PRIVATE INTERNATIONAL LAW
The Consulates of the United States of America, located in most countries around the world, are in charge of receiving, processing and authorizing the granting of "Non-Immigrant" (B1-b2, L1, H1, etc.) or "Immigrant" visas (Residences) to citizens of other nationalities so that they can enter U.S. territory through its various points of migration inspection, at airports, seaports or land borders.
The State Department of the United States administers and puts into operation the migratory, technological and legal instruments for the granting of American visas through its various Consulates and the international factors that influence in the work of the State Department when it has to decide whether to granting a new visa or renew an already valid one are many and varied.
It should be emphasized that American Consulates collaborate in the security of American citizens living abroad, offering them: (a) the delivery of new American passports, (b) Notary Public Services, (c) the location of medical services, (d) visits to American citizens imprisoned abroad, (e) matters related to deaths, marriages, births, etc., (f) in obtaining economic funds, (g) aid in emergency evacuations and dehorns, and (h) attention to general emergencies through the Office of Aid to Citizens Abroad of the State Department.
The Consular Officers who work at the various U.S. Consulates around the world, play a vital role in the control and direct security of U.S. territories and of U.S. citizens. They handle thousands of requests for American visas from foreign citizens who wish to enter the United States, either for family reunions, business matters, pleasure, studies, or work, among other reasons. However, there are other groups or individuals who seek to destabilize American democratic policy, or who wish to commit terrorist acts, or to deal in prohibited substances, or to illegally extract technology for arms trafficking or unfair commercial competition, including the trade and distribution of fake products, thus violating international laws and agreements on Copyrights or Industrial Property Rights, (Trade Marks, Patents on Inventions, etc.), or Author’s Rights, known internationally as Intellectual Property Rights.
The Consular Officers, who are sent by the U.S. State Department to the many American Consulates around the world, carry a great responsibility on their shoulders, as they are the ones who receive the American visa requests and must interview the foreign candidate to evaluate, to verify and evaluate the family background of the individual as well as his social, commercial and economic connections in the country where he lives.
A series of administrative and technological mechanisms come into play before an American visa can be granted to anyone. Information about the candidate must be crossed checked by other federal governmental organisms to verify whether he is a delinquent, either in his own country or abroad, whose present situation or passed conduct may be a threat to the U.S. community or to the system of federal and state laws of the United States of America.
Consular Officers must closely observe many faces, lists of requests and newspaper clippings to determine whether the foreign candidate is deserving or not of an American visa, and they execute their task in a way that sometimes pleases and in other cases annoys the applicant.
It has always has been quite clear that consular criteria for the rejecting or cancelling a foreigner’s American visas are based on the candidate’s present, passed and future economic aspects, both within or outside the United States.
U.S. Consular Officers receive numerous visa requests from foreign citizens who, on their request forms, attach fraudulent documents about their family, their economic or work connections in their country of residence, in an attempt to confuse the Official, and thus, obtain the desired American visa, only to be able to commit misdeeds within the American territory, like defrauding and even abusing the educational or health systems, in detriment of the honest residents and North American citizens who pay their taxes and lead a successful and transparent life within American territory.
Comments
Glenn R. Morales ( United States of America )
6 February 2009
Glenn R. Morales ( United States of America )
29 October 2009
The Consulates of the United States of America, located in most countries around the world, are in charge of receiving, processing and authorizing the granting of "Non-Immigrant" (B1-b2, L1, H1, etc.) or "Immigrant" visas (Residences) to citizens of other nationalities so that they can enter U.S. territory through its various points of migration inspection, at airports, seaports or land borders.
The State Department of the United States administers and puts into operation the migratory, technological and legal instruments for the granting of American visas through its various Consulates and the international factors that influence in the work of the State Department when it has to decide whether to granting a new visa or renew an already valid one are many and varied.
It should be emphasized that American Consulates collaborate in the security of American citizens living abroad, offering them: (a) the delivery of new American passports, (b) Notary Public Services, (c) the location of medical services, (d) visits to American citizens imprisoned abroad, (e) matters related to deaths, marriages, births, etc., (f) in obtaining economic funds, (g) aid in emergency evacuations and dehorns, and (h) attention to general emergencies through the Office of Aid to Citizens Abroad of the State Department.
The Consular Officers who work at the various U.S. Consulates around the world, play a vital role in the control and direct security of U.S. territories and of U.S. citizens. They handle thousands of requests for American visas from foreign citizens who wish to enter the United States, either for family reunions, business matters, pleasure, studies, or work, among other reasons. However, there are other groups or individuals who seek to destabilize American democratic policy, or who wish to commit terrorist acts, or to deal in prohibited substances, or to illegally extract technology for arms trafficking or unfair commercial competition, including the trade and distribution of fake products, thus violating international laws and agreements on Copyrights or Industrial Property Rights, (Trade Marks, Patents on Inventions, etc.), or Author’s Rights, known internationally as Intellectual Property Rights.
The Consular Officers, who are sent by the U.S. State Department to the many American Consulates around the world, carry a great responsibility on their shoulders, as they are the ones who receive the American visa requests and must interview the foreign candidate to evaluate, to verify and evaluate the family background of the individual as well as his social, commercial and economic connections in the country where he lives.
A series of administrative and technological mechanisms come into play before an American visa can be granted to anyone. Information about the candidate must be crossed checked by other federal governmental organisms to verify whether he is a delinquent, either in his own country or abroad, whose present situation or passed conduct may be a threat to the U.S. community or to the system of federal and state laws of the United States of America.
Consular Officers must closely observe many faces, lists of requests and newspaper clippings to determine whether the foreign candidate is deserving or not of an American visa, and they execute their task in a way that sometimes pleases and in other cases annoys the applicant.
It has always has been quite clear that consular criteria for the rejecting or cancelling a foreigner’s American visas are based on the candidate’s present, passed and future economic aspects, both within or outside the United States.
U.S. Consular Officers receive numerous visa requests from foreign citizens who, on their request forms, attach fraudulent documents about their family, their economic or work connections in their country of residence, in an attempt to confuse the Official, and thus, obtain the desired American visa, only to be able to commit misdeeds within the American territory, like defrauding and even abusing the educational or health systems, in detriment of the honest residents and North American citizens who pay their taxes and lead a successful and transparent life within American territory.