Since the outbreak of COVID-19, embassies of the United States around the world have been canceling all visa appointments. That affected many people, among them are international students. International students now have no way of getting their visa and attending college in the United States. They had to resort to online classes, which have many problems. For instance, time zone differences pose a serious challenge to an international student taking online classes from their home country. Time zone differences disrupt the biological clock of students, increasing levels of stress and anxiety. This adversely affects the students' time management skills. Furthermore, students may lose their scholarships if they are not present on campus for Spring 2021. That is extremely burdensome for low-income students who cannot afford to go to college without scholarships. Another issue is how certain courses have to be taken in-person, or at least in hybrid mode, a physics lab for example. Moreover, students lose a significant part of their college experience, which is participating in extra-curricular activities and networking, and building teamwork skills. Most students do not join clubs online because they believe they will not feel connected to the activity they are participating in.

We are aware that in the current state of the world, it may be difficult to open up all visa appointments. However, we ask that the U.S. Department of State considers the mentioned challenges that international students have been facing since March 2020. We hope that you consider how hard we have worked to get accepted into our dream colleges. Right now, embassies are canceling all appointments for the spring semester. We ask that you seriously consider allowing international students to schedule visa appointments to be present on campus for Spring 2021. If that option is not available, then please add student-visa applicants to the list of applicants who are eligible to apply for emergency visa appointments. Some countries have that option for international students and some do not. For instance, Egypt does not consider international students to be eligible to apply for emergency appointments, while Lebanon does. If appointments cannot open up for all international students, then allow us to apply for emergency appointments in all countries and not just in some. Higher education pursuit should be considered important and students should be considered worthy of emergency appointments during this global pandemic we are facing. International students merely want to have the same college experience as others.