“Since I was little, I have been interested in different cultures,” said Akari Nakajima, Japanese exchange student from Kansai Gaidai University (KGU) in Osaka, Japan. Akari has spent two semesters at UA taking classes ranging from Macroeconomics to Religions of the World. Wanting to improve her writing skill, she also chose to take Undergraduate Academic Writing, a three-hour credit class offered at the English Language Institute (ELI) for international students. At UA, Akari noted, “students can chase their dreams” due to the wide variety of opportunities. She will return to Japan this summer to find a part-time job because her “bank account is crying” and then complete her final semester at KGU.
The Capstone International Center (CIC) hosted a successful 40th Annual Sakura Festival and Haiku Contest on March 28th at Snow Hinton Park. The weather was cool and windy but grew warmer into the afternoon as events ramped up at the festival.
The CIC is grateful to have had the Consul General of Japan in Atlanta, Kenichi Matsuda, attend and give an opening speech along with Honorary Consul General Mark Jackson. Later, the two were joined by Johnnie Aycock, Tuscaloosa’s former Chamber of Commerce president, to perform a Kagami Biraki ceremony. The ceremony represents breaking down barriers to build a sense of community and is often performed when celebrating the start of a new chapter. The Japan-America Society of Alabama was kind enough to lend us the mini sake barrel for our 40th anniversary celebration.
The festival would not have been possible without our wonderful volunteers, sponsors and community partners. Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International provided the unique uchiwa (fans) free for attendees and brought high school student volunteers made up of their Narashino-City delegates. The City of Tuscaloosa provided us with the versatile Pavilion at Snow Hinton Park which once again proved to be an ideal venue. Kami-Con and the Bama SoS Brigade supported the event with sound setup and a cosplay contest to close out the festival.
Cultural programming was led by The University of Alabama (UA) Japanese language faculty and students along with the Japanese Language and Culture Society who organized engaging activities and demonstrations that brought cultural excitement to the festival. A Tuscaloosa native of ANCI, Inc. – An ENEOS Group company in Georgia hosted a table with fun festival games bringing his connection to the event full circle from his childhood attendance. Meanwhile, Chiba University students collaborated with UA’s CIP 200 students to present an interactive station on the history of the Japanese school uniform complete with several pieces for attendees to try on.
Festivalgoers also enjoyed tasty treats from Dipped: By Lisha and Panda Pan Bakery and Sweet Shop who completely sold out of the stock they brought to the festival.
The Critical Language Scholarship, a program of the U.S. Department of State, provides immersive summer study experiences that give undergraduate and graduate students a year’s worth of language learning in just eight weeks through intensive instruction and cultural activities.
Alex Chairez, a computer science major from Madison, was selected to study Japanese in Okayama, Japan. Chairez is a member of the Air Force ROTC, Japanese Language and Culture Club, and Run UA. Alex plans to be an Air Force cybersecurity officer stationed in Japan to bridge relations between U.S. and Japanese military personnel.
Jack Carpenter, an international studies major pursuing an MBA from Fort Collins, Colorado, was selected to study Russian in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Carpenter is part of the Blount Scholars Program and a National Merit Scholar. Jack plans to work with the U.S. Foreign Service after graduation.
The CLS program offers scholarships to study in one of nine critical languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Portuguese, Russian and Swahili.
Since its inception in 2006, the CLS Program has supported more than 10,000 participants from all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico in building critical language skills and intercultural competence.
This year, Ramadan takes place February 17 – March 19, 2026.
Ramadan stands as a sacred period in Islam, marking the revelation of the Qur’an. Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, fostering closeness to God and nurturing qualities like self-discipline, gratitude, and empathy for the needy. It’s a time of spiritual renewal, characterized by increased Quranic recitation and prayer.
FASTING During Ramadan, Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset, about 12 hours daily over 29-30 days. It’s a time for spiritual and physical discipline, fostering self-reflection and moral growth. Fasting promotes God-consciousness and encourages good deeds.
The first 6 days are typically the hardest.
Students may be more tired than usual.
They also may be homesick during this time.
WAYS TO SUPPORT STUDENTS DURING RAMADAN Prayer Times: During Ramadan, students may prioritize prayer times, observing the five daily prayers at various intervals throughout the day.
Consider allowing brief breaks during class, labs, seminars, or events for prayer or iftar.
Additionally, be aware of evening activities that may coincide with worship times.
Respect students who may pray in quiet area such as hallways or designated room.
Academics: Reasonable accommodations should be provided for fasting students during finals and exams, such as adjusting exam times or allowing students to eat during the exam if needed.
It’s important to minimize stress by offering support and understanding the challenges students may encounter.
Recognize that students may adjust their sleep schedules due to late-night prayers and early morning meals during Ramadan.
Applications are now open for this cycle of the Global Challenges Teaching Awards to support pairs of teaching faculty (one from the US and one from the UK) focusing on the following three key global challenges: climate action, peace and democracy, and health inequality.
This award expands access to global exchange opportunities through the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) model by embracing virtual exchange in order to better address the urgency and relevance of global challenges.
Applications are open for Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s DARE: Desert Academic Retreat. This is an opportunity for senior faculty to immerse themselves in the desert while advancing their research and participating in cultural exchange and collaborative opportunities with BGU’s renowned faculty.
The University of Alabama Student Center is always busy at lunchtime, but if you walk by at midday on a Friday, you’ll see room 2100 is nearly packed. What is it — free football tickets? An unannounced appearance from Taylor Swift?
None of the above. The big draw is the International Coffee Hour.
“International Coffee Hour is really our premier event that our office puts on,” said Mitchell Wolf, international programs coordinator for the Office of International Student and Scholar Success.
“We really want to facilitate intercultural learning on campus,” Wolf said. “We want to expose University of Alabama students to what the world is like out there through meeting international students, to exposing them to culture, while also supporting our international students that are here far away from home.”
Launched as a small event more than two decades ago, International Coffee Hour now attracts close to 300 students every week – about 100 more than last year’s average.
Each week, the coffee hour salutes a different country. ISSS usually draws from the top ten countries where UA’s international students come from, plus a mix of other nations. A light lunch prepared by Bama Dining reflects the cuisine of that week’s country. This spring the global hopscotch includes Bangladesh, Nigeria, Canada and seven other nations.
Beyond the food, International Coffee Hour is like a town square, a place where people from Alabama, the rest of the U.S. and dozens of countries meet and build friendships. That’s what happened to Lucy Spear, a Fayette native who serves as a peer advisor for international students.
“I think there’s something so powerful about having a conversation with someone who grew up differently from you. It helps you understand people more,” Spear said. “Manogya Khanal, she’s one of my best friends, and she’s from Nepal. Without coffee hour, I wouldn’t have met her.”
Khanal came to UA to study mechanical engineering and serves on the International Peer Advisory Council board. She said she loves what International Coffee Hour brings to the campus.
“I think coffee hour, in its core, stands for the exchange of culture and diverse groups of people coming together, asking questions or sharing their knowledge, where you can just talk about your shared curiosity…I can teach you so many things about my country, and you can teach me so many things about living in the States,” Khanal said.
During the coffee hour, room 2100 is filled with students’ voices. The conversations can be about almost anything: big things, such as global current events, and small things, like weekend plans, classes, memes and jokes.
“I think that’s one thing I like about coffee hour: it could be as deep as you want it to be. You can get as much as you want from it,” Spear said.
Each of the coffee hour events feels like a home away from home, Khanal said, because the conversations and camaraderie give her a chance to bond with students whose homes span the country and the world.
“Very lasting and meaningful relationships that I hope that I can carry on after college as well,” she said.
The International Coffee Hour’s future may include a bigger space and more cultural engagement, such as dance presentations or informal talks, Wolf said. But the bottom line will stay the same: getting people from different places into the same room to learn, discover and form strong, long-lasting bonds.
“We’ve got something good here at The University of Alabama and something that we should be proud of,” he said. “And we want more and more students to be able to experience it.”
The International Coffee Hour’s spring semester launches Friday, Jan. 16. The hour is held most Fridays in the UA Student Center, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. More information, including a schedule of the countries featured this year, can be found at UA’s Capstone International Center website.
USCIS Pauses Application Processing Submitted by Citizens of 40 Countries on Travel/Visa Ban (Updated 01/01/2026)
On January 1, 2026, USCIS issued an updated policy memo which expands on their prior 12/2/2025 policy memo. The new policy memo generally halts all applications submitted to USCIS by citizens of the 40 Countries covered under Presidential Proclamation 10998: Restricting And Limiting The Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of The United States.
This impacts Asylum and Permanent Residency case filings as well as I-765 Employment Authorization Applications, I-539 Petitions for Change-of-Status or Extension-of-Status, I-129 Petitions for H-1B, and other petitions filed with USCIS for citizens of Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burma, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Cote D’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, The Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Please note, cases may still be filed with USCIS despite the processing pause, and ISSS encourages students and scholars from impacted countries to make sure to continue timely filing of petitions.
The Presidential Proclamation of December 16, 2025: Restricting and Limiting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of The United States expands the number of countries impacted by travel bans. This proclomation adds 7 countries plus Palestinian Authority-issued travel document holders to the “full” travel ban list and 15 countries to the “partial” travel ban list. These additional bans go into effect on January 1, 2026.
Original travel bans went into effect June 9, 2025.
Expanded travel bans go into effect on January 1, 2026.
Full ban countries – A total of nineteen (19) countries plus holders of Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents are subject to a full ban that suspends “entry into the United States” of nationals of those countries as “immigrants and nonimmigrants.”
The original 12 “full ban” countries which went into effect on June 9, 2025 are: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The expanded list of 7 countries plus holders of Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents who are subject to the “full ban” which goes into effect on January 1, 2026 are: Burkina Faso, Laos*, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone*, South Sudan, Syria and those holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents.
*Note: Laos and Sierra Leone were previously on the “partial ban” list and have been added to the “full ban” list effective January 1, 2026.
Partial ban countries – A total of twenty (20) countries are subject to a partial ban that suspends “entry into the United States” as immigrants and of nonimmigrants “B-1, B‑2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas.”
The original 7 “partial ban” countries which went into effect on June 9, 2025 are: Burundi, Cuba, Laos*, Sierra Leone*, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela
*Note: Laos and Sierra Leone have been made subject to the “full ban” list effective January 1, 2026.
The expanded list of 15 countries subject to the “partial ban” which goes into effect on January 1, 2026 are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Exceptions – The ban provisions are applicable only to nationals of the subject country who are outside the U.S. without a valid visa as of the effective date of the travel ban (i.e. June 9, 2025 for original travel ban countries and January 1, 2026 for expanded travel ban countries).
Individuals who are inside the United States on the effective date, or who are outside the United States on that date but have a visa that is valid as of the effective date, would not be covered by the ban.
Please note, the proclamation does not revoke visas issued before the proclamation effective dates. Both the June 4 and December 16 Proclamations state that “No immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation.”
There are also a number of categorical exceptions, such as for lawful permanent residents, dual nationals who travel on passports issued by a non-ban country, asylees, refugees, diplomatic and international organization visas, and some other categories.
Case-by-case exceptions – Both the June 4 and December 16 Proclamations provide for case-by-case exceptions by the Attorney General and Secretary of State.
Advising – International Students, Scholars, Faculty, and Staff from the above 39 impacted countries and those holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents are strongly advised to consult with International Student & Scholar Services prior to any travel. ISSS advising staff are available during drop-in advising 11 am – 3 pm, Monday through Thursday or by appointment.
The following chart may help understand the two Proclamations and their impact:
BAN TYPE
Proclamation 10949 of June 4, 2025
Effective June 9, 2025
Proclamation of December 16, 2025
Effective January 1, 2026
Alphabetized List of Countries Subject to Travel Ban on January 1, 2026
Full Ban
Entry suspended for immigrants and all nonimmigrants.
Original 12: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen
Original 12 will continue to be subject to full ban unchanged: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen continued.
8 more to be added: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria added, plus any individuals who seek to travel on any travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority.
Afghanistan
Burkina Faso
Burma (Myanmar)
Chad
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Laos
Libya
Mali
Niger
Palestinian Authority Travel Documents
Republic of the Congo
Sierra Leone
Somalia
South Sudan
Sudan
Syria
Yemen
Partial Ban
Entry suspended for immigrants, and on B-1, B‑2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas.
**Except for Turkmenistan, for which entry is suspended only of immigrants.
Original 7: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela
4 of original 7 will continue to be subject to partial ban unchanged: Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela (Laos and Sierra Leone to be moved to full ban list; Turkmenistan to have B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J ban lifted but remain subject to ban on immigrants.)
15 more to be added: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe
“UA is cool. It’s quite different from German universities because the campus is like a small town, and everyone is proud of it,” assessed ELI student, Dominik Souard, who is employed in an IT consulting firm near Frankfurt. Although he uses English documents every day in his job, he wanted to develop his fluency. Dominik searched for a large, traditional, and dynamic campus with college sports and finally chose the ELI because it gave him the opportunity to live on campus during his four-week program. “Americans are open people and easy to get in touch with,” he concluded.
On the other hand, Jieun Choi came to UA from Korea with her husband, who is working in the English Department. She currently has conditional admission for a Doctor of Musical Arts degree and is studying to satisfy the English proficiency requirement. In addition to developing her English, Jieun plays violin in the Tuscaloosa Symphony and teaches Korean in the Critical Languages Program. She appreciates Tuscaloosa because it is a “safe and clean city with a good environment for study.”
Improving her professional profile is Diana Gil Bora’s purpose in studying English. She is from an Indigenous community in Colombia and hopes to work in The National University on a campus located in the Amazon region. She noted, “I believe in education to resolve issues in my community. I want to guide young people in educational processes such as admission to the university, finding scholarships and studying abroad.” She is sure that her own experience at the ELI will help her do that.
