Enrollment in the Sacramento State English Language Institute may be affected by recent proposals by the Immigration and Naturalization Service to crack down on potential terrorists who remain in the United States on student visas.

Two proposals, slated for enforcement on May 1, create the primary concern for the Sac State affiliated English Language Institute. The institute provides instruction in English language and American customs to many international students who later enroll in standard undergraduate and graduate programs.

These new rules will limit the maximum length of stay for travelers with a visitor or business visa while disallowing them from enrolling in an education program unless they expressed intent to study upon entrance to the United States.

Eric Merchant, coordinator of international student programs in the Office of Global Education, said many travelers to the United States make spur-of-the-moment decisions to enroll in English courses at the Institute. The new rule will make this impossible unless the person clearly states their intent to pursue a course of study to an INS official when they come to America.

“This may have a very visible impact on language programs,” Merchant said.

The changes were announced following President George W. Bush?s harsh rebuke of the INS when a flight school in Florida received student visa approvals for two Sept. 11 hijackers, six months after they flew planes into the World Trade Center.

On April 8, the first of the series of proposals went into effect. The change requires that a student be approved by the INS prior to enrollment in a course of study in the United States. Previously, a student could begin their education while their request was being processed.

Merchant said the changes should have little impact on standard undergraduate and graduate enrollment, assuming the INS will live up to its congressional promise to reduce the processing time for a student visa request to 30 days.

“Thirty days would be an exceedingly good performance for the INS,” he said.

Despite the six to 12 months it now takes to process student visas, Merchant hopes that recent remodeling of the INS in response to the debacle involving the Sept. 11 hijackers will ensure that the predictions are met.

If a potential student is unable to obtain authorization before the start of classes, they will have to delay their enrollment, he said.

“There is no gray zone in this,” Merchant said.

INS Commissioner James Ziglar assured the public that the proposals will not hamper the experience of potential international students.

“These new rules strike the appropriate balance between INS? mission to ensure that our nation?s immigration laws are followed and stop illegal immigration and our desire to welcome legitimate visitors to the United States,” he said.

On Thursday, the House of Representatives approved a bill to replace the INS with a new, two-organization system.

The INS has not indicated whether or not the passing of this bill will affect the enforcement of the new rules.

Mohamed Hamada, a Sac State international student from Egypt, said these changes would only cause more complications for legitimate potential students while failing to prevent individuals who pose a real threat from entering the country.

“You are going to be hindering thousands and thousands of people without truly solving the problem,” Hamada said.

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