Students heading to US universities from the UAE have been hit by delays of up to two months due to a backlog in visa processing.
An American state department official said the pandemic was partly to blame, but the US embassy in the UAE said it was prioritising students' applications.
One million international students have studied at US colleges and universities every year since 2015, the Institute of International Education's Open Doors report said.
Last year, this fell by 16 per cent after lockdowns in several states forced students to return home, but now the country is opening up and students are returning.
GLinks International
A US State Department official said the pandemic resulted in "profound reductions in the department’s visa processing capacity".
“Additionally, a range of presidential proclamations restricting travel in response to the pandemic has resulted in further constraints on visa issuances worldwide," the official said.
"Interview wait times vary by post and visa classification, and have been severely affected by Covid-related limitations."
More than 72,000 students from the Mena region studied in the US in 2019-2020 before the pandemic, the Open Doors report said.
Education consultants in the UAE voiced concerns that students may not be able to get visas in time for the beginning of the term in September.
Emergency appointments only
-
1. London, UK, ranked highly for the student mix indicator (2 out of 115) and employer activity (4) but was poorly rated for affordability (95). -
2. Munich, Germany, ranked well in the desirability indicator (7 out of 115) and 'student view' (8). -
3. Seoul, South Korea, was ranked third in a tie with Tokyo, Japan. Seoul scored highly in employer activity (3 out of 115) but 57th on affordability. -
3. Tokyo, Japan, ranked third in a tie with Seoul, South Korea. Tokyo was poorly scored for student mix (74 out of 115) but was the most desirable city for students and employer activity. -
5. Berlin, Germany, was ranked ninth in the desirability index and 16th on affordability. Its lowest indicator rank is for student mix (33rd). -
6. Melbourne, Australia, was the highest ranked city for student mix and seventh for employer activity. -
7. Zurich, Switzerland, was ranked third in the desirability indicator and sixth in employer activity. However, the city ranked 70th out of 115 for affordability. -
8. Sydney, Australia, ranked third in the student mix indicator and fourth in desirability. It was listed as 101 out of 115 on affordability. -
9. Montreal, Canada, is triple tied in ninth rank with Paris, France, and Boston, US. Montreal ranked ninth in student mix but 52 on affordability. -
9. Paris was ranked highly for employer activity (7) and desirability (16) but not as well for student mix (36) and affordability (51). -
9. With a good student mix, Boston was a popular choice. It also ranked second in employer activity but 109th for affordability. -
12. Edinburgh, Scotland, was rated fourth in student mix but deemed somewhat expensive (55) by students. -
13. Toronto, Canada, was the second most desirable student city and ranked 11th in the student mix indicator. Its weak spot was affordability, for which it ranked 88th. -
14. Vienna, Austria, was the tenth most desirable city to study and ranked 26 out of 115 for employer activity and 25th for affordability. -
15. Hong Kong was seen as a desirable city to study in (ranked 24) but not particularly diverse, ranking 57 out of 115 for that indicator. -
16. New York, US, ranked ninth for employer activity as well as 29th and 30th in the desirability and student mix indicators, respectively. However, the city was ranked 114 out of 115 for affordability. -
17. Singapore was the fifth most desirable student city to study in but ranked 85 out of 115 for affordability, bringing its overall ranking down. -
18. Vancouver, Canada, ranked 8th in the student mix and desirability indicators but 87th on affordability. -
19. Lausanne, Switzerland, was in joint 19th place with Kyoto-Osaka-Kobe, Japan. The Swiss city ranked 19th in the student mix indicator but 58th on affordability. -
19. Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe, Japan, shared the 19th spot with Lausanne. The three Japanese cities were ranked 88th out of 115 for student mix but were still very desirable (21). They also ranked well for employer activity (16).
Kiran Kaur, head of acquisitions at Dubai education consultancy GLinks International, which helps students from the Middle East going to US universities every year, said only emergency appointments for visas were available at present.
“While previously we could get students appointments within days, now they are waiting for a couple of months to get visas in Dubai," Ms Kaur said.
“There were delays in getting appointments, and even now general appointments are not available. You need to make a request to expedite the process.”
In pre-pandemic days, it could take between three days and a month for a student in the UAE to get a visa.
Soraya Beheshti, the regional director for global consultancy Crimson Education, said the estimated waiting time for an interview appointment at a US embassy or consulate changed weekly.
“At the moment, the US ambassadorial and consular representatives in Dubai and Abu Dhabi are taking emergency appointments only. It is unclear how long this will last," Ms Beheshti said.
She explained that for students in countries harder hit by Covid-19, such as India or South Africa, the situation would be much worse than for those in the UAE.
Dubai twins hope to study in Utah
Dubai twins Sanmol and Mansol Singh Jammu had hoped to travel to the US for higher studies last year but deflated scores in the International Baccalaureate diploma meant they had to appeal to the board.
After waiting for months to get their revised grades, the Indian students, 19, did not have enough time to apply to the US for a visa and were concerned about rising coronavirus cases in the country.
Instead, they joined the University of Hertfordshire in the UK for undergraduate studies. But after two months classes moved online because of Covid-19, so the twins flew back to Dubai and completed the year remotely.
Now, they have applied to Southern Utah University.
“I am waiting to get my offer from the university and hope to apply for the US visa within the week," said Sanmol.
“I am aware that only emergency appointments are available for the visa. It’s a risky situation but if we get the visa and can join in the September intake, it’s better to go for it."
Sanmol said that if he and his brother were unable to get visas on time, they would go back to the UK for in-person classes and head to the US for the spring term.
UAE students prioritised
The US embassy in the UAE confirmed some visas were being delayed.
"While pandemic-related delays continue to impact some applicants, the US mission offers expedited appointments to all student visa applicants with approaching programme start dates,” an embassy representative said.
“The US embassy in Abu Dhabi and US consulate general in Dubai are working very hard to ensure that student visa applicants are able to arrive at their university or school on time."
The embassy said it had processed nearly 3,000 student visa applications in 2021, and would continue to prioritise students.
Students can schedule a visa appointment and request an expedited interview date.
After scheduling a regularly available appointment, students have to choose the “Request Expedite” option to ask for a date in advance of their planned travel.
Top universities in the world - in pictures
-
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts was ranked number one in the prestigious list -
Students at the University of Oxford, which was second in the league table of 1,300 institutions. Getty Images -
Stanford University rounded off the top three in the world rankings -
The University of Cambridge took fourth spot in the 2022 rankings -
Harvard University, one of the world's most famous seats of learning, secured fifth place in the global rankings -
California Institute of Technology, widely known as Caltech, took sixth place -
The best university outside of the United Kingdom and United States was Switzerland’s ETH Zurich, claiming eighth place -
Imperial College London Exhibition rose one place to seventh in the QS World University Rankings -
University College London shared eight place in the coveted ratings. Getty -
University of Chicago completed the top ten on the worldwide rankings -
The National University of Singapore (NUS) maintained its ranking of 11th from last year -
The city-state also took 12th spot, thanks to Nanyang Technological University of Singapore -
It was lucky 13 for the University of Pennslyvania which jumped up three places from last year's sixteenth position. Alamy -
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne was 14th for the second year in a row. AFP -
Ivy League stalwart Yale University was joint 14th. Wikimedia Commons -
The University of Edinburgh climbed from 20th to 16th in the latest edition of the QS World University Rankings. Alamy -
Tsinghua University in Beijing is riding high in 17th. AFP -
Peking University in China made big strides this year, rising from 23rd spot to 18th -
Columbia University in New York was 19th for the second consecutive year -
Princeton University was named the 2oth best institution in the world. Alamy
