Brazilians Seeking Degrees Abroad Threatened by Covid-19 Pandemic

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The dream of studying abroad became a cause for concern for many Brazilians during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the start of the school year in the northern hemisphere scheduled for September, many youths found themselves “imprisoned” in Brazil without being able to enter the United States and other countries that have closed their borders to the nations most affected by the coronavirus.

In addition, many students who were admitted to universities in Europe are prevented from applying for student visas at consulates and embassies, which are still under quarantine.

Thaina Pletsch Hu, 21, has been studying neuropsychology at Colorado State University since 2017. In June she returned to her hometown in Santa Catarina to spend holidays with her family, and is now unable to travel back to Colorado to return to classes scheduled for August 24th. “It’s hard to remain calm if we don’t know what’s going to happen with our studies, dreams, and scholarships,” she says.

Since late May, the United States has banned Brazilians from entering its territory. Donald Trump’s government has also restricted the issuance of visas to foreigners, in order to prevent the virus from spreading. However, Washington has made exceptions for students from the European Union.

Currently, Brasília is negotiating the possibility of Brazilian students also being exempted from the rule. “We are looking at this very closely. We are attending to all of them,” said President Donald Trump last Monday, August 17th, when asked about this prospect. Brazil ranks 10th among countries that send young people to universities in the United States.

Santa Catarina’s Thaina Hu set up a page on social media together with other students to ask for help from the Brazilian government and US authorities. Entitled “We the foreigners,” the 147-member group advocates signing an agreement as soon as possible and has created an online petition that currently has over 89,000 signatures.

“We reached the Brazilian Embassy in Washington and the US Embassy in Brasília and all we got were standard messages saying they couldn’t help us,” says Thaina, who also made contact with Brazil’s Foreign Office Itamaraty, but got no reply.

“We invested and fought hard for all this. Everything that has happened has greatly affected both my mental health and that of all the students,” she says. Her university will start the academic year using a hybrid system, alternating between in-person and online classes.

In late July, the US Customs and Immigration Service said new foreign students whose classes were exclusively online would be unable to enter the country. Universities with mixed systems, however, could allow immigrants to enter, as long as they were not on the list of banned nationalities.

Sudario Silva Junior, a 24-year-old from Minas Gerais, is fighting against the potential for losing his full scholarship and the US$22,000 (R$110,000) annual grant he earned for a master’s degree in Animal Science at the University of Minnesota. “The program starts on August 28th, but so far I haven’t been able to apply for a visa,” he says.

“An opportunity like this doesn’t come overnight,” says the student, who has just graduated in Zootechnology and would start classes in Minneapolis under the hybrid format. “I studied and worked hard for this scholarship, it was years of investment.”

The US embassy and consulates in Brazil have been closed since the start of the pandemic and all visa applications have been suspended, with no expected date for reopening. “There are no alternatives for students who don’t have a visa yet,” explains migration attorney Vinícius Bicalho. “We experienced something unprecedented and restrictive immigration measures were required for the safety of consular officials,” he says.

Brazilians who already have a visa, and only wish to return to the United States, do have the option of a 15-day quarantine in a country that is exempt from the measures restricting American immigration, such as Mexico and the United Kingdom. Francesca Del Posso, from Rio, was one of those who chose the extra investment to secure her studies.

“I spent 16 days quarantined in Mexico at a childhood friend’s home and entered the United States in the first week of August,” says Francesca, who is in her third year of Marketing and Public Relations at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “It was hard to put my foot down and decide that I would really go back, but as I didn’t pay for a hotel or food, I didn’t spend that much.”

In a note, the US Embassy’s press office in Brasília said it is taking the situation of Brazilian students very seriously. “We are looking for ways to ensure that students – both new and returning students – have priority attention as soon as the visa interviews are resumed.”

American diplomatic representations are not the only ones working on an exceptional basis in Brazil. Several European embassies and consulates are also closed or with limited hours of attendance.

In Brazil, the full visa procedure for the UK, including students, is operated by VFS Global. The company has temporarily closed its offices in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo and Brazilians in search of documents have been left with no alternatives.

Marina Lopes, from São Paulo, won a scholarship to study for a Masters in Tourism at the University of Glasgow but is unable to schedule an appointment with VFS Global. “My university offered the option to start the course at a distance, expecting that this could happen,” she says. “But communication with the immigration services is very restricted and we have no answers.”

The center conducting visa procedures opened for a few weeks between late July and early August but soon closed its doors again. During the brief operation period, Barbara Perrupato, 23, managed to register and set a date for the documents to be delivered. However, she is unsure whether she will receive her visa as usual, now that the facility is closed.

“I logged on to the website every 30 minutes for two weeks to arrange a schedule and paid a fee to receive the documents at home, but with the closure of the visa center I don’t know what will happen,” says the young woman, who will take a Master’s degree in Marketing at Hult Business School in London. Barbara’s classes are scheduled to begin on September 15th, but the Brazilian intends to enter the UK at least 15 days earlier, in order to undergo the preventive quarantine provided by local law.

“I quit my job to do my master’s degree,” she says. “The chance of not being able to travel and running out of income is greatly affecting me emotionally.”

In a note, the British Embassy said it is trying to find alternatives to help Brazilian students. “The guidance to students is to be alert to VFS Global messages in order to start rescheduling and to deal with urgent cases. In addition, it is vital that everyone is familiar with the procedures and visa requirements for the UK, including the specificities of their university,” reads the statement.

Source: Veja