Office of International Education

Sensitive Disciplines and the Technology Alert List

Scholars from countries designated by the U.S. to be state sponsors of terrorism and scholars who propose to work in fields considered sensitive by the Department of State may be subject to additional scrutiny when applying for a visa. The procedures can cause delays of several weeks, and in extreme cases the State Department may decide that issues of national security outweigh those of the Exchange Visitor Program. In these cases the hopeful Exchange Visitor will not receive an entry visa, and will not be able to participate in the Program. When this happens, there is little if anything that Carnegie Mellon is able to do to reverse the decision. For more information, go to the U.S. Department of State website that addresses this issue: http://www.foia.state.gov/masterdocs/09fam/0940031X1.pdf

Last Updated On: September 5th, 2006