Russian Scholars Press US for Visa Changes to Avoid Going Home

Russian scholars in the US on temporary visas are pressing federal agencies to let them stay in the country, asserting that they will be persecuted by their government if forced to return.

But the scholars, who came to the US through the Fulbright exchange program, have been frustrated by a convoluted inter-agency process and year-plus waits for a decision on those requests. Some are running out of time, and options.

Without exemptions, they can’t switch to another visa status and extend their stay here. Requesting US asylum would be prohibitively expensive and not guaranteed to succeed. Moving to another country might also not be realistic.

The requirement also blocks scholars from filling jobs that are waiting for them in the US. Until they receive a waiver from the home residency requirement, visa holders can’t go to work full-time or transfer to an employment-based visa status.

The Biden administration has taken steps to assist individual visa holders, but declined to grant blanket waivers for scholars from Russia—even as it backs Ukraine in their ongoing war.

The Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright program, has been guarded in its public response since the Russian government in March labeled it an “undesirable” program and accused it of recruiting “agents of influence” under the guise of educational exchange.

“We will continue to emphasize the benefits that the exchange of students and scholars bring to the people of both the U.S. and Russia,” the IIE said in a brief statement, adding that it was “disappointed” with Russia’s decision. It hasn’t identified who or how many scholars are potentially impacted.

The IIE and federal agencies haven’t released data on waiver requests, but graduate students who have formed networks over forums like Telegram estimate that more than 150 Russian exchange visa holders in the US could be affected.

The situation highlights the conflicts that can arise between the objectives of visa programs and evolving US foreign policy. Identifying solutions should have been part of a larger US response to the war, attorneys say, and failing to do so could damage the reputation of academic exchange programs moving forward.

“Who’s going to want to be a Fulbrighter in the future?” said Margaret Stock, an attorney and member of the Council on National Security and Immigration.

US Citizenship and Immigration Services didn’t respond to requests for comment, and a State Department spokesperson said simply that the “health, safety, and welfare of exchange participants is a top priority.” It’s advised visa holders on alternatives to returning, but has said it can’t offer blanket relief to Russians.

Kristina Serova

Photo courtesy of Kristina Serova.

That’s left many scholars who say alternatives like asylum aren’t tenable largely scrambling on their own. They’ve pressed those agencies to expedite waiver decisions, published op-eds and asked Congressional offices to intervene. But many are still waiting with the clock ticking on their visa status.

Kristina Serova, a Fulbright scholar who earned a master’s degree in public policy at the University of Minnesota, said former professors in Russia told her they’ve been fired or fled the country because of political pressure. They urged her not to return to her homeland, but her US visa expires this month.

“All of us might face persecution,” she said. “It’s clear to everyone that there is a risk associated with our Fulbright affiliation.”

If she’d had a waiver approved in time, Serova would have taken a job in New York City at a health center helping underserved communities that she began working with after completing her graduate program, she said. But with the waiver application still pending, she’ll instead pursue another master’s degree in Minnesota or seek asylum if the Fulbright program doesn’t approve an extension of her J-1 visa.

Home Residency Mandate

Fulbright scholars are among the quarter million participants in exchange visitor programs who come to the US each year on J-1 visas.

The program, named after Sen. William J. Fulbright, the sponsor of legislation enacting it, was established after World War II with the aim of promoting cross-cultural understanding as well as academic exchange. More than 3,000 US students and faculty receive government-funded grants each year to pursue studies abroad, while another 4,000 foreign students and faculty come here to conduct research or attend academic programs.

The J-1 exchange visitor visa requires that they spend at least two years in their home country or last country of legal residence after they complete their studies in the US. That mandate is intended to ensure the program is truly an “exchange” and doesn’t create a brain drain in their home countries.

There are exceptions. A small number of international physicians trained in the US, for instance, can secure a waiver by opting to work in federally designated areas with physician shortages. That option has allowed Louisiana to recently address a dearth of forensic pathologists.

The State Department—in response to government priorities on developing artificial intelligence technology—is also revising a list of designated occupations requiring visa holders to return home after their programs.

But securing a waiver for participants in government-funded programs like Fulbright is especially difficult.

“They don’t want the perception that you can come here on taxpayers’ dime and then freely immigrate to the US,” said Brian Schmitt, an immigration attorney who specializes in J-1 waivers.

Dangerous Return

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Afghanistan’s new Taliban government has created similar chaos for Ukrainian and Afghan visa holders in the US. In those cases, however, the Biden administration has made liberal use of options like Temporary Protected Status and parole to protect individuals from those and other countries experiencing armed conflict.

Russian scholars studying abroad cannot claim a war in their homeland. But they say conditions since the Ukraine invasion pose different kinds of threats to them.

Some face conscription in a conflict they opposed—the military age limit was scrapped after the war began—while more recent developments signaled the possibility of criminal prosecution for their activities abroad.

The number of groups deemed “undesirable” by Russian authorities has accelerated since the war began, 50 have been hit with that label as of July after 33 designations in 2022 and 58 last year, according to Irina Olimpieva, a research professor at George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies who studies academic freedom issues and Russian immigration.

Individuals connected with those groups can face fines and even criminal prosecution. Among the recent Russia-US prisoner swap was an activist jailed, among other charges, for cooperating with an undesirable organization.

Scholars in fields like history and political science may face the biggest threats of repression in Russia, Olimpieva said. “They have very strong critical functions and criticism of political system now is almost prohibited,” she said. “Of course, the war exacerbated these issues.”

Violette Soboleva

Photo courtesy of Violetta Soboleva.

Violetta Soboleva moved to the US in 2021 to study instructional design at Syracuse University with plans to return after one year. That changed after Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine. She decided to pursue a doctorate in educational psychology to stay in the US.

For Soboleva, returning to Russia carried added concern because of her work volunteering for the Alexey Navalny presidential campaign in 2017 and because she maintains a highly-read blog where she shares her thoughts on the political situation in her home country. Navalny died this year while serving a three-year prison sentence.

IIE responded to Russia’s “undesirable” designation by suspending its operations there, but Fulbright scholars say neither the institute nor State Department have offered alternatives to the slow-moving waiver process—aside from going to a third country or seeking a new sponsor for their exchange visa.

Soboleva, among the most outspoken Russian Fulbright scholars on the issue, learned that she had finally secured a visa waiver last month after submitting her application nine months earlier.

An op-ed on the issue that she wrote for the Washington Post may have helped speed up a decision on her case, Soboleva said, while fellow scholars who sought a waiver months earlier are still waiting. She said the total number of affected visa holders may be even higher than the estimate of 150.

“Not all Russian Fulbrighters are anti-war activists,” Soboleva said. “The main problem is that even if this person is apolitical, didn’t participate in any rallies or support Navalny, they still fear persecution in Russia based on their association with an outside group.”

Waiting for Relief

There are four ways exchange visa holders can secure a waiver from the home-return rule: their home government provides a no-objection letter; a US government agency sponsors a waiver; they receive a hardship because of circumstances like an illness affecting a US relative; or they seek a persecution waiver.

Although waiver requests overall are rare, there has been a sharp increase, Schmitt, the immigration attorney, said.

The last option is the most attractive for Russian scholars, attorneys say, in no small part because it wouldn’t need the approval of a foreign government or the US agency that sponsored their visa. The IIE has historically been “really strict and recommends not granting waivers in almost every case,” said Greg Siskind, an immigration attorney at Siskind Susser PC.

For Russian scholars seeking a persecution-based waiver, that means submitting an application to USCIS with evidence that they would face persecution in their home country based on their race, religion, or political opinions. If the agency finds the applicant would be subject to persecution, their case is then sent to the State Department, which must make its own recommendation before USCIS notifies the visa holder of approval.

A persecution-based waiver might be the easier path, but applicants can still receive a denial from either agency and contend with lengthy backlogs. USCIS issued policy guidance in October clarifying that it would grant waivers on a case-by-case basis when there’s war or civil unrest in an applicant’s home country. But those applications still face wait times of 17 months.

Siskind said he approached the State Department after the Ukraine war began about the possibility of blanket waivers to Russian scholars, in the hopes of sparing them thousands in legal fees to file a waiver claim or an asylum petition. More than six months later, he said, he was told by the agency’s Waiver Review Division that relief could only be offered on a case-by-case basis.

Advocates fear a change in administration could put Fulbright scholars at even more serious risk because former President Donald Trump is seen as friendlier with Russia. A Kamala Harris administration may not be a marked improvement, “but the alternative is scary,” Siskind said.

Limited Alternatives

The State Department has held informational sessions for scholars on how to seek waivers, helped them maintain visas by transferring to another higher ed institution and helped others relocate to another country besides Russia. But none of the options are assured and could impact any future attempts to get a new US visa.

Petitioning for US asylum would allow the scholars to remain in the country but without the ability to get a legal work permit for six months if they don’t have employment authorization through another visa status. Even if they can get by that long without a job, the massive asylum backlog leaves many immigrants waiting for more than a decade for resolution on their cases.

Daria Nefedova

Photo courtesy of Daria Nefedova.

Daria Nefedova, a Fulbright scholar who graduated from Brandeis University in May with a master’s degree in global health, said the wait for a home-residency waiver made that option unrealistic. She plans to apply for asylum before her visa status expires this month, but that comes with its own concerns, because she spent down her savings while in school.

“How can I pay for health insurance? Or even food?” she said.

While the Russian government has cost the country human talent with political repression, Olimpieva said the waiver process is causing “brain waste” in the US as well.

“It’s a waste when immigrants with high human capital are not being used to benefit their country of destination,” she said, “because of these bureaucratic and legal issues.”