An International Support Fund has been created to provide emergency financial assistance to faculty and staff members and students who incur unforeseen expenses because of immigration and travel regulations. Chancellor Nancy Cantor and Provost Richard Herman announced the creation of the fund in an April 9 mass e-mail.
The fund will be available to internationals connected with the Urbana campus who have emergent financial need caused by unexpected expenses, such as legal bills, travel and other costs, incurred by complying with immigration regulations.
While the criteria governing disbursements and other details of the fund are still being determined, an oversight committee will be formed to administer the fund, said Earl Kellogg, associate provost for international affairs and chair of the International Support Task Force, a campuswide committee concerned with the needs of international students, faculty and staff members.
Currently, citizens from 25 designated foreign countries are subject to mandatory registration with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS), formerly the Immigration and Naturalization Service. International students, faculty and staff members must go to the Chicago BCIS facility for registration, an annual process during which people are fingerprinted, photographed and interviewed by federal officials.
"For many, the federal registration policies and travel restrictions weren’t part of the process when they came to the United States," Kellogg said. "Therefore, these new costs were not anticipated. The fund is a way to say to our international students, staff and faculty that they are an important part of our university."
The fund also is intended to mitigate the financial burden some internationals are experiencing when their employment and schooling are disrupted by the new regulations. People from certain countries and scholars in certain science and technology disciplines are experiencing lengthy delays in obtaining visas and security clearances to enter the United States.
A scholar in the College of Education missed a semester of teaching because his return from Lebanon was delayed 211 days, Kellogg said.
Several students also missed the spring semester of classes because they were unable to return from China after the Christmas break, said Ivor Emmanuel, director of the Office of International Student Affairs.
"The delays with the visas is a national problem," said Carol Buss, director of the Office of International Faculty and Staff Affairs. "Our professional organization is trying to help with getting these clearances through faster. If they have any problems at an embassy, we usually try to help with that, although if they’re stuck for a security clearance there’s not much we can do."
Concerns they may be unable to re-enter the United States promptly after traveling to other countries are causing some international faculty and staff members to forego not only professional conferences held in other nations but visits with loved ones as well.
"People not being able to travel freely so they can go home to visit family is a big issue," said Alireza Namazifrad, a research scientist in computational science and engineering. "I have friends who think about these (regulations and restrictions) too much and it affects their work. Sometimes it causes some depression."
Buss said she met with several people prior to their registration appointments to help them prepare and referred a few people to colleagues who already had undergone the process. Buss said she has had no reports of any faculty or staff members running into problems during their registration.
As a show of support, staff members from the Office of International Student Affairs transported and accompanied some students to the Chicago office for their appointments when the registration process began during fall 2002.
"Some of the students who are Muslims had to go during the Ramadan period, which meant they (had to) pray five times a day," Emmanuel said. "The van left at about 4 or 5 in the morning to get there on time. The students were certainly grateful that my staff actually stopped on the highway at dawn for them to do their prayers. I think students found that particularly sensitive to their own needs."
Other resources on campus that international faculty and staff members and students may turn to for help include the Faculty-Staff Emergency Fund, the emergency loan program through the Office of International Student Affairs, and the Faculty-Staff Assistance Program.
"We’re so integrated internationally these days that we simply have to be able to have world-class people involved with our academic community here, and we don’t want to see that diminished," Kellogg said.
More than $2,000 has been collected for the International Support Fund so far, Kellogg said. Members of the Urbana campus community are encouraged to demonstrate their support for their international colleagues by donating to the fund.
More information about the International Support Fund is available on the International Programs and Studies Web site at www.ips.uiuc.edu/isf.shtml, which contains a link to the UI Foundation where donations can be made. Donations by mail should be sent to: UI Foundation, Harker Hall, 1305 W. Green St., MC-386. Make checks payable to UIF/International Support Fund.