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Welcome
to Planet Russkij
Reading Room.
A Resource
for Students
of Russian and Russia.
TZARS,
WRITERS,
AND CULTURAL ICONS.
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev.
1818-1883
A PROFOUND INFLUENCE
ON RUSSIAN SOCIETY.
In the news….
August 15, 2003
(Click on the link below to read the entire article and other news the Johnson's Russia List #7290.)
U.S. Visa Mess Dashes Summer Dreams
By Robin Munro
Staff Writer
For Alina Ibraimova, 21, this summer was supposed to be the fulfillment of
a childhood dream to visit the United States.
Ibraimova, an ecological science student at Ulyanovsk State University, had
wanted to work at a summer camp in Maine, meet new people and perfect her
English.
"When I was still in grade school I always dreamed of going to America,"
she said in a recent interview. "When I started attending the university, I
learned about the Camp America program for students. Many of my friends
have gone for the summer and came back impressed.
"I prepared for it for a whole year and hoped the summer would come
quickly," she said.
She raised the $700 needed to apply for a summer program and was assigned a
job at the Walton camp in the north of Maine, where she was supposed to
start work at the end of May.
"I had to pass tests, which I did very well, but then there were delays,"
she said. "I was finally told to expect my visa on July 15, but they didn't
give me a visa."
The reason given by the U.S. Embassy was that she had not signed her visa
application form.
"I could not believe it. My plans and expectations were ruined. I don't
know if I'll ever get to the United States now," Ibraimova said.
Instead, she found herself among at least 3,600 students who never made it
to their summer jobs in the United States due to new visa policies at the
U.S. Embassy. The visa mess -- which comes amid new, post-Sept. 11, 2001,
security measures at the embassy -- has led to war of words between the
embassy and the agencies that arrange summer work'
Johnson's Russia List
#7290
15 August 2003
davidjohnson@erols.com
*This is the next step toward THE One World Language.
Step Two: Your noun on a cupola!
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