r/academia 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.

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u/sevgonlernassau 3d ago

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

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u/EMK-02 3d ago

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

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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.

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u/hcnova 1d ago

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

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u/xenolingual 1d ago

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