Universities in the state of Georgia will have to report international students who miss seven consecutive days of classes or have an expired visa if a new bill to the authorities, currently being debated in the state House, gets approved.

The Georgia Homeland Security in Education Act of 2007 seeks to implement stronger measures than those required under federal law, which already requires universities to inform the authorities if an international student fails to enrol on a course or changes their address. Schools that failed to comply with the new act would be refused state funding or state-administered federal funding.

The bill’s co-sponsor, Jay Neal, commented, “The most important things on the minds of Americans these days is homeland security and protection from terrorism. A great threat to us is when we have people here [in the USA] on student visas and not in the schools that they are supposed to be attending.”