Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, the US government set in motion a broad set of measures whose aim was to screen foreign applicants for entrance into the US, to try to identify those who it was felt might attempt to carry out further attacks. Since the 2001-02 academic year had already begun in most schools, and since it took time for these new measures to be put in place, the first impact was on foreign students applying for entry in the Fall of 2002. Our initial survey of graduate physics departments on visa issues was conducted in January and February of 2003, and asked departments to recount the experience of the international students they had accepted the previous Fall. We heard from 75% of all US graduate physics departments, and found that visa difficulties were widespread. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)