The process of immigrating to the United States is long and difficult for anyone, including international students at SF State.

Now some students in BECA 562: Television/Video Documentary Production, want to show the reality students face when they come here from another country to study.

“We want people to know that there is more to international students than the cute accent,” said Ayse Koyuncu, producer of the documentary.

Becoming an international student in the United States requires financial support, commitment as a full-time student and assimilation to a new lifestyle.

“It is not as easy as we, American, students have it,” said Lauren Sardone, 22, broadcasting and electronic communication arts student and associate producer of the documentary.

About 4 percent of students are international students, according to the fall 2006 residence report prepared by the Office of University and Budget Planning.

Koyuncu and Sardone said the most common struggles international students face are living accommodations and financial support.

Kate Newman, 20, a J-1 student, or International Exchange Program student –– a program based on a mutual agreement between SF State and a partner institution, had trouble finding a place to stay.

“It was difficult for me to find a place to live. When I came, I had to stay in a hotel,” Newman said.

While J-1 students, as special guests, enjoy special privileges, including not paying any non-resident tuition fees and receiving priority registration, F-1 students pay elevated fees as foreign students.

“Tuition is very expensive, like three or four times more,” Sardone said.

Abigail Ponio, 20, an international student from the Philippines, said in an e-mail that an outside private scholarship pays for about 50 percent of her tuition, and her parents pay for the rest.

“I would work more here if I could, but international students are limited to on-campus jobs only, and only up to a maximum of 20 hours a week,” Ponio said.

Koyuncu, who is an F-1 student from Sweden, says that getting a student visa becomes a tedious process at the embassy.

The first step to become an international student is to acquire admission to the school the student wants to attend; then, they receive a form, called an I-20, that has to be taken to the embassy to get a visa, according to Koyuncu's experience.

“You have to stand in line on the side walk outside the embassy, the average waiting time is like for six hours,” Koyuncu said.

At the embassy, American authorities ask the prospective international student for proof of financial support for a student visa.

“I provided evidence of why to come back to my country,” Newman said.

Once students are in any U.S. institution, they have to be full-time students in order to maintain their visa, according to SF State’s Office of International Programs.

The most difficult situation for international students in all this process is to leave their family back home and adjust to their new lifestyle.

“I met some students who got homesick missing their family and friends,” said Newman, who is from Australia.

However, for students like Ponio, it wasn't hard to fit in San Francisco, mainly because everyone else is from somewhere else, too.

“Occasionally I miss them from time to time. But aside from that, I pretty much enjoy being away,” Ponio said.

A showing of the BECA students’ documentary is scheduled for May 24 at the Coppola Theatre.

“Before, I had no idea what international students had to go through to get an education here,” Sardone said about what she learned from doing the documentary.