Another article on Azfar's visa situation

Another article came out on Azfar's visa situation today, this time in the Oklahoma State University student newspaper. Read the story here: http://ocolly.com/2008/09/02/visa-woes-trap-professor-overseas/

Or, if the link doesn't work, once again, here's the full story:

Visa woes trap professor overseas
By Nour Habib
Features Writer
Published: September 02, 2008

At one point, he had nearly 800 books checked out from the library.
He knows five languages. He was told he did four dissertations in one. He knows the English language better than most native speakers. And he could have been a part of OSU this semester.
But Azfar Hussain is in Bangladesh awaiting “additional administrative processing” on his visa.
Hussain, who was supposed to work as a professor in the English department this fall, lost his job for the semester because he was not able to make it to the U.S. in time.
His wife, Melissa, and daughter, Salma, who returned to the U.S. in February because Melissa’s father was sick, are in Stillwater waiting for him.
“I have no guarantee how long the processing will take,” Melissa said.
Melissa, who planned on teaching one class while staying home to work on her dissertation this year, is now a full-time lecturer in the English department.
She was in Morrill Hall for the orientation for new freshman composition teachers when she found out her husband couldn’t come.
“I went in immediately to talk to the department’s secretary, and I kind of broke down and started crying,” she said.
The department gave her a job within the hour.
“I have to say the English department [has] been wonderful,” Melissa said.
Without this job, she said she would have been in “a really precarious situation.”
“I moved here with no job, our 3-year-old daughter, all our stuff, a new apartment with a lease, all these bills coming in to pay,” she said. “I assumed [Azfar] would be the main provider for the family.”
The department promised to hold the position for Hussain if he is able to make it by the spring semester.
“But I really have no idea if he will get here by January,” Melissa said. “I don’t think I’ll know till January rolls around. I don’t think I can plan for it.”
Meghan Sutherland, an assistant professor of screen studies, was on Hussain’s hiring committee.
“Based on [Azfar’s curriculum vitae] alone, I immediately thought that he was far more accomplished than the other applicants,” Sutherland said. “But it was only when I spoke to Dr. Hussain in the course of our phone interviews that I felt certain his accomplishments would translate into something really useful and exciting for OSU students and faculty.”
Sutherland witnessed the Hussains try to “navigate a bureaucratic labyrinth,” receiving different answers about the status of the visa.
“The whole situation is representative of a disturbing lack of transparency and disclosure on the part of our government agencies, and specifically, a lack of openness about the nature of the rules and procedures that the Department of Homeland Security uses to vet immigration and visa cases,” Sutherland said. “To me, at least, it seems entirely unfair and unjust, not to mention undemocratic.”
Hussain first came to the U.S. as a Fulbright Scholar on a J-1 visa in 1995. He met his future wife at Washington State University, where they were attending graduate school.
In 2006, Hussain and his family went to Bangladesh to fulfill the residency on a J visa, which requires visa holders to return to their native country for two years before they can return to the U.S.
“According to the rules that we were told, he should’ve had his visa as of May 2008,” Melissa said.
The Hussains submitted all their paperwork on time, and did everything “by the rules,” she said.
In his verbal interview, Hussain was told that he should receive his visa by Aug. 13, and was assured that there would be no problem if he booked a flight on the 14th.
“So we bought a ticket for the 14th,” Melissa said. “That day came and went. That ticket is lost. So all that money is down the drain as well.”
After several phone calls, e-mails and inquiries made of congressmen, all the Hussains were told was that the visa needed additional processing.
The State Department said it cannot comment on individual cases, and that without the specifics of a case, additional administrative processing cannot be defined.
Hussain, teaching at the North-South University in Bangladesh, is worried about his wife and daughter.
“The situation has forced my wife to lead the life of a single mother, while forcing a 3-year-old child to lead a miserable life away from her dad,” Hussain said.
Melissa is concerned that her husband’s open criticism of the U.S. government will cause him trouble.
Victor Villanueva, Hussain’s Ph.D. adviser at Washington State University, said it wouldn’t surprise him if Hussain’s public political positions would put him under particular scrutiny.
Villanueva says that there are people who have a “love-it-or-leave-it way of looking at the world,” and do not understand why someone as critical of the government as Hussain would want to come to the U.S.
“I think it’s unfortunate, since Azfar, I believe, thinks the country and its people are wonderful,” Villanueva said. “How else would students who think Azfar is flat wrong still respect and like him? [Azfar] is more bookish, but no more critical of the current state than, say, most Democrats.”
Villanueva called Hussain the “best-read student” with whom he’s ever worked.
“At one point, the university library had an injunction against Azfar because he had withdrawn nearly 800 books,” Villanueva said.
“The thing is, he likely had read all 800.”
Sutherland sent a letter around the department, encouraging others to take an interest in the case and contact their government representatives.
Sutherland sees one good thing that can come out this situation.
“It presents us with an opportunity to remember that we need to participate in our democracy, and actually speak to the government, as educators and as citizens, to demand clarity and openness about the policies to which our colleagues and friends around the world are being subjected.”