DHS help sought for NMC students with pending ‘green card,’ F-1 visa applications

The United Workers Movement-NMI is seeking the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s help in ensuring that Northern Marianas College students with pending “green card” or F-1 foreign student visa applications are allowed to continue enrolling at NMC in the next semester.

UWM-NMI president Rabby Syed, in an interview yesterday, said a formal letter will be sent to DHS by next week to request a parole in place “or any kind of status” that will allow these nursing students to enroll and continue studying at NMC “while their applications are still pending.”

“I will be requesting DHS to come up with immediate relief… so these students can finish their studies… I hope DHS will not take this as a request for improved status,” Syed told Saipan Tribune.

At least 12 NMC nursing students asked NMC president Sharon Hart in an Aug. 2 letter to help allow them to register in the next semester.

“We are not sure why, now, after earlier certifying our enrollment, the Office of Admissions and Records is refusing to register us for this upcoming semester until the visas actually arrive,” the nursing students told Hart.

The students who signed the letter included five from the graduating class of 2012, and seven from the graduating class of seven.

They included Ryan Balboa, Giselle Butalid, Rachelle Alturas, Dul Bahadur Khadka, Edith Villamena, Yue Quiao Mi-Belky, Xiajun Ning, Yixin Zhang, Ernest Guerrero, Mark Espeleta, Bryan James Balboa, and Mary Ann Duremdes.

They said this is not the first time this situation has occurred. They said students were allowed to register for the past two semesters pending the arrival of their visas.

The students said in most cases, original F-1 visas are required for students to enter the United States.

“We are continuing students already in the United States awaiting visa renewals… Not being allowed to register will pose a significant problem for all of us if the delay causes us to miss class time,” they said.

Syed said the students who wrote the letter were immediate relatives of U.S. citizens.

“They’re also guessing that some 30 percent of NMC students will be in the same situation. Those who wrote the NMC president are only nursing students. They don’t include other students with different courses,” he added.

The five NMC nursing students in this year’s graduating class said they have already devoted three or more years in getting to this point in their field of study.

“If we are not able to begin courses on time, our graduation may be delayed for an additional year. We will also be in violation of our F-1 visa requirement to be attending school,” they said, adding that this will adversely affect NMC’s Nursing Program.