Statements by U.S. Officials

Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs Maura Harty Remarks at Bilkent University 

Ankara, Turkey - May 12, 2005 (1:30 – 2:30 p.m.)

Introduction

It is a great pleasure for me to be here today and have the chance to discuss with you the wealth of educational opportunities in the United States available to students from Turkey. I am also delighted to talk to you about the efforts of the Department of State in continuing to maintain the openness of the United States to international visitors.

There are a number of things that drew me to Ankara today. Turkey is a key ally of the United States and it is my honor to represent the United States Government to discuss matters of mutual interest to our two nations. But the most important reason for my visit is you. To those of you who are considering study abroad, you can make no better choice than to study in the United States. You would not be alone in making this decision. Turkey continues to be one of the top ten nations worldwide for international students enrolled in university programs in the United States and sends more students to the U.S. than any other European country. I believe that there is no substitute for personal engagement when you think something is important. And international education and exchange is important to us. So I come here today to welcome you and to encourage you to study in my country.

The Context For U.S. Visa Policy

As students, you will be familiar with the importance of context. You can illustrate this point in virtually every field of academic study. The context for today’s U.S. visa policy is, quite simply, September 11, 2001. The United States changed irrevocably on that day when citizens from my country and more than 90 other countries lost their lives. From my office in the State Department, I could see the Pentagon smoldering for days after the attacks. In the immediate aftermath, the U.S. Government moved quickly to shore up our nation’s border security and reassure American citizens and international visitors alike that our nation was safe and secure. After conducting a top-to-bottom review of visa procedures, we still work ceaselessly to make sure that we have in place solid procedures to protect us against those who would do us harm.

But U.S. immigration policy must also be considered in a broader context, as a product of our history and our common ideals. America is a nation of immigrants, and has always welcomed visitors from all over the globe. We are a “nation of nations.” Only two weeks ago, I had the privilege of participating in the naturalization of over 6,000 new American citizens from one hundred different nations.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice continues the abiding tradition of welcoming people to the United States. She has stated,

“Our interaction with the rest of the world must be a

conversation, not a monologue, and America must

remain open to visitors and workers and students from

around the world. We do not and will not compromise

our security standards, yet if our public diplomacy efforts

are to succeed, we cannot close ourselves off from the rest

of the world.”

It is our fundamental commitment to protecting the openness of the United States that underpins our approach to border security and immigration. Although security must always be our first priority, we work every day to see that access to our country is not impeded for those whose presence we encourage and value.

Secure Borders/Open Doors

I have spent 24 years in the U.S. Foreign Service dedicated to precisely this conviction. But it is not only the public servant in me that speaks in support for international student education and exchange. It is also the kid who grew up in the melting pot of New York City. It is the student who learned at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service the value of diverse views offered by students and faculty drawn from all over the world. It is most definitely the American diplomat who has seen with her own eyes the light of understanding and recognition spread by personal interactions between Americans and citizens of other nations.

I firmly believe that security and openness are mutually reinforcing. It is in our own national interest to continue to encourage people to visit the United States. The U.S. is preeminent in the field of higher education and gained that standing with the contributions of countless students and academics from all over the world. International students attending U.S. colleges and universities account for $13 billion in revenues each year. Beyond the economic benefits, we as a nation gain so much from the people around the world who visit our country, study at our premier colleges and universities, work in our dynamic business sector, and conduct research at the leading medical and scientific facilities in the world.

State Department-sponsored international exchange programs, including Fulbright scholarships and International Visitor Grants, offer a particularly compelling illustration of the impact of academic exchanges. All over the world, since the Fulbright program’s inception, over 255,000 people, some 96,400 from the United States and 153,600 from other countries, have participated in Fulbright exchanges.

The Fulbright Program in Turkey is a strong and vibrant one. Since its founding in 1949, over 3,000 Turkish and U.S. grantees have participated in the program. Some recent participants include Minister of State Ali Babacan, who received a Masters degree in Business Administration from Northwestern University, as well as the current rector of Ataturk University in Erzurum.

The next couple of years herald a new period of unprecedented growth, as the budget for the Fulbright Program is expected to more than triple. The Fulbright program and Turkish participation are important to us. This expansion of the program is an excellent illustration of just how much we value educational exchange between Turkey and the United States.

Another exciting exchange program, the Department of State’s International Visitor Program, promotes mutual understanding and closer ties among countries and people by bringing current and future leaders of other nations to the United States for targeted education opportunities. More than 110,000 international visitors have participated in this program. International Visitors from Turkey over the years include more than a dozen members of Parliament, ten cabinet ministers, and nine university rectors, who each participated in our International Visitors Program early in their careers. Our mission to Turkey will send forty International Visitors to the United States this year, a 33 percent increase over last year.

In addition, the United States sponsors Voluntary Visitor exchange programs including the one that your Minister for National Education, Huseyn Celik, participated in this year, visiting Washington, D.C. and the state of Florida to identify further opportunities for even larger numbers of Turkish university students to study in the U.S. For the last four years, we have also funded a program for master’s level education students from this great university to spend two months in the U.S. on student teaching assignments in the state of Iowa. This year, the program will include students from Bilkent as well as other universities in Turkey.

Worldwide, more than 200 alumni of U.S. exchange programs have become heads of state or government, including many other names that will be familiar to you:

King Abdullah, Jordan

Anwar Sadat, Egypt

Indira Gandhi, India

Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan

Tony Blair, UK

Oscar Arias Sanchez, Costa Rica

Ricardo Lagos, Chile

                Mikhail Saakashvili, Georgia – and most of his cabinet

We want more Turkish citizens to take their place among the prestigious names on that honor roll. We also know from experience that the personal and professional relationships that are developed during educational and cultural exchanges form a foundation of understanding and lasting partnerships, not just between young people, but between nations, between societies, and between cultures.

The Embassy provides educational counseling services for college studies, including technical and vocational studies, through the “Study USA” Advising Center hosted by the Turkish Fulbright Commission. Our American Corners offer information on study in the U.S. In fact, we are slated to open a fourth American Corner in Izmir on May 17. On the web, you can find a wealth of information about studying in the United States. The website address is: ankara.usembassy.gov.

Why do we put so much effort into informing you about the opportunities available to you? Here is one reason why: I traveled to Islamabad, Pakistan, last year. During my visit, the U.S. Ambassador relayed to me that her British colleagues had experienced an incredible increase in student visa applications in one year – from 2,000 to 6,000. To me, that means that the United States lost the opportunity to host and educate 4,000 Pakistani students. This is an unconscionable loss.

Indeed, we consider the loss of even one qualified student is one too many. When a student goes elsewhere, we haven't only lost the student. We have lost his or her parents, who have clearly decided to send their children elsewhere. We have likely lost the younger siblings, who surely will follow in the footsteps of an older brother or sister. Most important to me, though, we have lost the chance for a student to see the wonders of America through his or her own eyes, rather than through the prism of a foreign news-media outlet. And when that student grows up and becomes a social, civic, political, or perhaps religious leader at home, we want that leader to have had the quintessential experience of life on an American college or university campus. A young person's positive experience in America strengthens and enriches our nation today and in the future.

Our premier colleges and universities, English language programs, community colleges, research centers and medical facilities in the United States are still as attractive as ever. And there is nothing that can replace the experience of studying within the U.S. – experiencing the raucous exchange of ideas on a U.S. campus. We also believe that the United States is strong in business, academia and scientific research because we attract talented people from the far reaches of the globe.

Turning the Corner

During the last three years of unprecedented change in visa practices, we have kept international students in mind. At the State Department, I lead a team of people – some 7,800 strong, working in 65 different languages at over 200 locations around the world, who are committed to turning the strength of our beliefs into the proof of our actions.

I know that the changes in visa processing that we and other agencies have implemented since September 11 have been seen by some as discouraging foreign students, exchange visitors, and business travelers from choosing to visit the United States. I am here to tell you today that we have been working tirelessly to make sure that the newer procedures do not impede the travel of legitimate visitors to the U.S.

For the last two years, we have instructed all of our overseas posts to give priority to students and exchange visitors. Our embassies and consulates have implemented this requirement in a number of ways and have been very successful in getting student applicants appointments in a timely way. In Turkey, we have an appointment system that identifies students and gives them priority. We have special appointment times reserved just for students. If student times fill up, the contractor who administers our appointment system notifies us so that we can add additional appointments to make sure all students have a chance to apply. I implore all of you to apply just as soon as you are accepted to an American educational institution.

Visa applicants now have more information to plan their travel since we overhauled our Internet website at travel.state.gov. It is pretty user-friendly and has additional resource material. Having more information about the process helps you to be better prepared when you attend an interview.

Initially, some of the visa processing changes we made resulted in delays, and the delays were particularly troublesome in the spring and summer of 2002. However, it has never been an option for us to simply shrug our shoulders, cite border security and accept the status quo.

It is important to understand that, although there have been changes to the way in which visas are processed, the eligibility requirements have not changed. The stories you might have heard that “America no longer welcomes foreign students” are simply not true. In fact, our own statistics comparing visa applications in October 2003 through January 2004 with October 2004 through January 2005 show that the percentage of student visa applicants who received visas is increasing. Turkey is an excellent example of this trend. The number of applicants for student visas has not declined since 2001 and has actually increased slightly (by 4%). And contrary to what you might have heard, the vast majority of student visa applicants – over 80 percent – qualify to receive visas.

Many of you will enter the world of business after you graduate. I am happy to say that our focus on students has not worked to the detriment of other visitors, such as business travelers. On the contrary, many of the changes we have implemented have universal benefits. We have instructed our embassies and consulates to establish mechanisms to expedite appointments for legitimate business travelers with urgent needs and applicants seeking emergency medical care. U.S. consular sections worldwide are working diligently and imaginatively to facilitate business and tourist travel.

Encouraging Signs

I cannot imagine better educational opportunities for you than those available in the United States at one of our 3,000 institutions of higher learning. My pledge to you is that, when you are considering a college or university outside Turkey, our door is open. When you decide to study in the U.S., we will support you by reviewing your visa application with the courtesy and consideration that you deserve.

Although international travel to the United States dropped in the aftermath of September 11, we are seeing some encouraging signs of a resurgence. In the business and tourism realm, the United States welcomed 46 million international visitors during 2004, an increase of 12 percent from 2003. This is the first year since 1992 that we have had double-digit growth in international travel to the U.S. In fact, the U.S. has experienced growth in visitation for 15 successive months. We hope that this increase in travel to the U.S. will also be reflected by an increase in students wishing to study in America.

If I leave you with any message from my visit here today, I hope it is that visa procedures should not be perceived as a barrier to travel to or study in the United States and that our nation continues to be the welcoming one it has always been. Outdated public perceptions regarding changes to visa processing could not be more different from the reality. The Department of State is working hard to support what we want to be a resurgence of international students, exchange visitors, scientists and business people traveling to the U.S. by making sure that they receive their visas in a timely and efficient manner.

I want you to know that, as we would say in the United States, our welcome mat is out and I sincerely hope you will consider studying in the United States.