University Visas: A Way to Live in Spiritually Strategic Countries

If the draw to move to a spiritually strategic country — a majority Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, or formerly Community country—keeps you up at night dreaming of a way to get there, I’ve got a beautiful, integrated, available visa option for you in almost any country you can imagine.

Student visas. 

Also, you’re in for a special treat—a guest blog by a colleague of mine who we’ll call Eric, who studied for six years on a student visa so he and his wife and two daughters could eventually invite Muslims to follow Jesus in remote islands of Indonesia.

But first, just imagine what if…?

What if....? You move to Egypt, a majority Muslim country. The Egyptian government hands you a few hassle-free visa years of learning the language fluently because you’re studying Arabic at the local university in Cairo. 

What if…? You move to India, a majority Hindu country. You spend two years mixing with other Indian business people networking and building relationships, because you’re getting your MBA from a university in Mumbai, where we believe every unreached people group in India can be accessed.

What if…? You move to Thailand, a majority Buddhist country. You help create solutions for the rural poor alongside motivated local Thais because you’re all getting your degree in Community Development at a university in Bangkok.

Eric’s journey as a Latino on a student visa to Indonesia

By Eric

After graduating from college in my home country, my wife and I wanted to move to Indonesia to bless Indonesians through a business, a social impact project, and house-church planting. Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world with just a handful of cross-cultural workers per million Indonesians.

We were living in Panama at the time, so I had an idea that I presented to the organization who wanted to send us: Could I get a student visa at a state university in Indonesia?

Those I talked with thought being a student might take too much of my time, not allowing me to concentrate on house-church planting ministry.

But I had already been active for eight years in a student network in Latin America. And because I had already spent some of my undergraduate time in Indonesia on a study abroad program and had learned the language, I knew being a student would give me natural, consistent access to the people God wanted me to serve.

I approached the Indonesian embassy and asked about study opportunities. They told me that it was already too late for the following semester, but they pointed me to the website where I could find information about universities in Indonesia.

Throughout my life, I have often overcome no seué (which means I don’t know), so I thought this would be another chance to grow by figuring out what I didn’t know.  

After much prayer, I applied to an Indonesian university and they accepted me, which meant I also received a student visa, good for four years. A few months later, I applied to a state programme to learn the language and culture, and was accepted. That experience would allow me to learn everything from within the culture on a stable visa that made sense to the local people.

We finally found our way into Indonesia!

Four years later, it naturally followed that I was accepted and even awarded a scholarship for a two-year master's programme in an area of study that I loved and would use to bless Indonesians.

Since nationality has a lot of value, I knew I would be respected if I built my identity on this Indonesian concept of life: Kamu sekrang adalah anak ankat di tanah dan air nusantara. You are now an adopted child of the Indonesia homeland.

Being part of the national system of study, as well as knowing, loving, and respecting the culture, does not mean that I am never seen as a foreigner. Yet it offered me a valued and accepted place in society.

The blessing of a university visa continues. Some of my prospective teammates from Latin America are in the last stages of applying for graduate school scholarships. Interestingly, most other Indonesia visa options have been processed very slowly or not at all during the current pandemic crisis. However, the university and government offices connected with this international study programme have moved our paperwork through the processes. God has opened a door!

Of course, we still have some challenges, as always happens with any visa option. My wife and I recently celebrated the birth of our second child, and she still needed to get her own visa, because she was not formally connected with a study programme. All of that is getting sorted out, including receiving the visa papers for our newborn, praise to God! 

We are focusing on people groups on remote Indonesian islands, so please pray for us and the people we’re called to reach. 

What countries and majors are you interested in exploring with a student visa option? (You can now enter a comment with just your first name as a guest comment, if you like).