The sisters left Mumbai two years ago on a green card, and are better off than some other students who, with ASA's closing, now do not even have a valid visa to stay on. Nouman Shareef, 19, left Hyderabad 18 months ago and paid almost $42,000 [approx Rs 17,67,000] for the course. He trained for 200 hours, but was short by 50 hours to fulfil the requirement for a license when ASA closed down. He is now searching for another school, and his visa is on the verge of expiring. "My parents sold some land to pay my fees; now they are doing whatever they can," he told India Abroad.
"Most of these students paid the whole fee amount at the beginning itself," consul Sinha says. "It should have been a warning signal. Most US flight schools will not take the money as a lump sum; you need merely to pay as you fly."
Sinha has been actively involved in the affair ever since the first complaints began landing on his table in March. At the time, ASA promised him that the training would be completed within 10 months, but did not manage to finish even half the course in that time. The students demanded their money back, the consulate got actively involved, and matters deteriorated from that point on.
He attempted to get the district attorney to file a criminal case. The DA pointed out that without prima facie evidence of wrongdoing he could do nothing, and advised the consul to file a civil complaint instead. The consulate is now considering various legal options.
Money is one problem the students face -- and it is a huge problem, as a majority of them and their families back home in India incurred enormous debt in order to be able to afford the fees. Legal status is another: in the post 9/11 era, SEVIS was created to monitor the comings and goings of students. Each student has to register with SEVIS, providing details of the course and the institution in question; their visas are linked to these details. When a school shuts down, as in the case of ASA, or the student is no longer on its rolls for any reason, SEVIS is automatically informed, and from that point on, the student has no real legal standing to remain in the US.
Attorneys Anu Peshawaria, who is with the non-profit Sewa Legal Aid, and Inderpreet Soni of the South Asian Bar Association, have been in the forefront of attempts to sort out these immigration issues. Meanwhile, the majority of students are reduced to counting the little money they have left, and to hoping that the larger Indian-American community will pitch in to help, financially and otherwise.
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