Irina is a 42 year old professor of Business English in Moscow. She has been teaching for the past 15 years there. To get up to full speed, she NEEDS to attend Business School in the U.S. Her father has a flat, but has not gone privite yet as it cists $18.00 a month the way it is. He has a dacha. All will go to Irina when he passes. We put the funds in the bank in the U.S., got the I-20, and applied for a student Visa for Irina. She was refused because - "She is at an age where one could change life courses easily and has English language ability and obvious intelligence to facilitate such a move." according to Bradford Johnson at the American embassy in Moscow....can / would anyone please advise what could be done from here. Thanks. John jhr_4@yahoo.com

Why don't you try Canada?
High quality Universities with costs lower than USA.
McGill in Montreal has a very good MBA program, and as an added benefit, she can learn French.
Great food also (-:

Closer to your place, Finland has an excellent MBA program in English.

John,
This is a problem for many people of all ages in many parts of the world that are trying to get a student visa. As I mentioned in a previous post, intent is the key word. She has to be able to prove to the visa officer that it is indeed her intent to return to Russia after completing her degree. If her age is the main reason why they turned her down, I don't see what she's going to do about that to satisfy the visa officer. If she can come up with some more evidence, for example a letter from an employer saying that she will return to work for them, and things of that nature that will make it seem more likely that she does not intend to stay in the US for good, it might help.

... I'm sorry, but to me all this sounds like you're looking for a cheap mistress that you can dispose of easily when all is "said and done", without any of the hassles a marriage to her would bring!

If I was an embassy officer, I wouldn't give anybody over the age of 28 a student visa... think about it!

Why is that bullscheisse? A majority of Int'l students in US are graduate students. How old do you think someone is after they get their undergraduate degree, and perhaps after a few years of working after that? What makes you come to the conclusion that there should be an age limit on learning?

This guy is trying to show sophistication!!
By mixing B.S. in English and German.
He seems to forget that all nouns are written with capitals in German.
Ok, the right way to say it is "Stier Scheiße", even if it is not used in German.

You cannot do anything about the refusal. The applicant has the responsibility to satisfy the consulate that he/she will depart the US after his/her studies. Pointing towards some minimum assets of a parent does not demonstrate intent. Job letters for the future are meaningless...they are not enforceable nor does the possession of a job letter compel a person to depart the US after studying. It boils down to what the consular folks believe - not what you believe.