The student US visas of as many as 60 Saudi students who are enrolled for this academic year at American universities have been cancelled by US immigration authorities.
An official with the organization, known as Saudis in America, which offers aid to consultation to students from that country, said that the study US visas of a variety of students have been cancelled by US immigration for the current year. Many have been refused entry when they arrived at US airports, the Arab News is reporting. Mohammed Al-Essa, the Saudi Cultural Attaché stationed in Washington DC, made a statement to Okay, the Arabic daily newspaper, claiming that the reasons 90 percent of the US visas were nullified were entirely academic.
Students currently stuck in Saudi Arabia have been told to put in applications if they want to get fresh US visas. Many students had their US visas cancelled by American authorities because of objectionable content found stored on their cellular phones, according to another local daily Arabic newspaper, the Al-Marsd. Students have been warned to avoid being questioned and profiled by US immigration officials when they arrive at airports in the US by the Saudi Embassy.
Saudis in America member Hafiz Al-Zakari says that while the US Saudi Cultural Attache cannot offer assistance to students in regards to the cancellation, they can speak with authorities in the US to try to speed up the issuance of new US visas.