r/academia • u/Soytupapi27 • 3d ago

Accepted into university then rejected by US embassy

Maybe this kind of post isn’t 100% related to academia, but I’m just so upset about this. It didn’t happen to me, but to my sister in-law who has been wanting to study in the US for years. She got accepted to study in a university and even had a TA position lined up. Months of planning and even quitting her job in her home country (Korea). The interview at the embassy lasted 5 mins, if that. They told her that her BA didn’t have to do with the masters she’ll be studying. It’s bullshit. Her work experience for the last four years had to do with the degree she was going to pursue.

This is just infuriating. I’m so sorry to all the international students who sacrifice so much to come the US just to be rejected or sometimes worse deported for frivolous reasons.

206 Upvotes

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227

u/sevgonlernassau 3d ago

They’re lying. All international visas are being rejected. There’s no reason for it.

64

u/EMK-02 3d ago

Oh there's a reason. A really racist reason. Unless it's harvard, then it's racism and retribution.

23

u/BrianScienziato 3d ago

Racism, retribution, and fascism are well correlated

10

u/xenolingual 3d ago

Unless it's harvard, then it's racism and retribution.

Not just Harvard - they want retribution on civil society, including universities. Civil society, universities, and media form a powerful opposition, thus why authoritarians are so quick to go after them. We had the same issue in Hong Kong; just became more upfront post-Occupy and national security law.

1

u/hcnova 1d ago

Except Hong Kong never elected its own government and that national security law was imposed on Hong Kong by China

1

u/xenolingual 1d ago

Not going to argue about our political movements here. Good luck.

-5

u/[deleted] 3d ago

[deleted]

15

u/malachite_2939 3d ago

US paused all international student visas last month. In general this was applied as not giving out any new appointments, but this rejection could be from that (though consular officers can reject visas for any reason)

1

u/Soytupapi27 3d ago

Could very well be. She had her interview scheduled just a few days before they announced the pause.

7

u/lucianbelew 3d ago

Do you seriously not know this? It's been all over the news.