'Return of AP, TS students from US no larger issue '

Stating that there was no larger issue involved in cases of Indian students, mainly from Telangana and AP, who were sent back from the United States a couple of months ago, a senior US embassy official today noted that each of these cases should be looked at differently. Michael Pelletier, Deputy Ambassador of US in Delhi, said the Indian students were welcome to study in America. "India is the second largest sender of foreign students to the United States," he said. On being asked about the issue of Indian students being sent back on arrival from the US in recent times, he said they were "turned around" and not "deported". "When we saw the news about the students who were turned around, they weren't deported but they were turned around....," he told reporters in Hyderabad. Media reports had suggested that there were about 500 such cases but Pelletier said he did not have the numbers on those "turned around". Asked what went wrong in the episode, he said, "Each is an individual case. What I can say is, as a general rule, the immigration officials, when you apply for permission to enter the states at the border crossing (whether that's an airport or a port or land crossing), the border officials are going to want to hear your reason for study. They will look at your visa and they want to see the documentation that supports that. "If there is some reason to believe that you are traveling on the wrong visa or that your purpose is not aligned with the visa, then they may have issues or they may not be able to admit you to the states..."