Forty Saudi scholarship students in the US have been cancelled from the government's scholarship program for applying for American citizenship, said Dr. Muhammad Bin Abdullah Al-Issa, the Saudi Cultural Attaché in America, Al-Jazira newspaper reported Saturday. He said he had clear instructions from the Minister of Higher Education to stop paying stipend, apart from canceling the student's name from the scholarship list, if he or she is found to have applied for a permanent residency or the Green Card in preparation of obtaining American citizenship. About 80 Saudi students on scholarships have been sent back home for academic, security and psychological reasons, Al-Issa said. All reports show that Saudi students commit the least security offenses in the US, he added. Al-Issa said the majority of cases of Saudi students in prisons are related to US immigration laws. The students are held in custody for less than a week and then the embassy bails them out, he added. Al-Issa denied any Christianization cases of Saudi students and said that what was being circulated are none but rumors and false reports.
