WASHINGTON (voa) – The U.S. Justice Department has announced a new computerized system to keep track of foreigners who enter the country on student visas.
Attorney General John Ashcroft says the new system will give some assurance that foreigners who claim to be students are actually attending classes.
Three of the 19 plane hijackers in the September 11 terrorist attacks were in the country on student visas. One hijacker, Hani Hanjour, failed to show up at the school where he was supposed to be studying.
When Mr. Ashcroft announced the new system Friday, he said that for too long the U.S. student visa system has been “slow, antiquated” and “paper-driven.”
The new Internet-based system requires schools and universities to notify immigration authorities within 24 hours if a student doesn’t show up at the start of classes or drops out.
The new system affecting one million foreign students will begin operation in July. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has been under pressure from the U.S. Congress to get a computerized tracking system for foreign students into operation since the September 11 attacks.
