As a part of the Upper School’s language exchange program, students from Mingde High School in China were supposed to arrive on Monday. Instead, their visas were denied and the trip was cancelled.

The visa process proved to be difficult for these students. Upper School Chinese teacher Tian Wang explained the process the students went through to obtain their visas in China.

“All the teachers and students had to travel to a different city in the south to be interviewed at the U.S. consulate,” she said, “unfortunately all the students’ visa applications were rejected at the interview. We were not sure why.”

According to the U.S. Department of State, an application may be denied because the officer in charge of the process does not have all the information required to issue a visa, because the applicant does not qualify for the visa, or because upon review the applicant falls into a category that would make them ineligible for a visa.