‘Ensure timely interview’

Over 300 students who obtained scholarships and got admitted to different universities in the US urged the government to take necessary steps to ensure their visa interview slots on time.

A six-member student delegation yesterday submitted a memorandum to the foreign minister at his office.

A member of the delegation told this correspondent that they met Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen at noon. The minister assured them that he would write to the authorities concerned soon.

Another delegate said a large number of applicants got interview slots in late 2022 and early 2023 while they have to join their programmes by this July.

"We are not able to reschedule the slots due to a recent policy change by the US embassy," he said.

The delay has pushed around 2,000 students of the Fall-2022 session into uncertainty regarding joining their programmes on time.

The memorandum read that a significant portion of the students have received financial aid from the universities in the form of merit scholarships, research, and teaching assistantships and they are fearful that they will have to forfeit such hard-earned awards.