International students in the US fear deportation following new visa rules

The year 2020 has been a roller-coaster of a ride, with the pandemic causing an economic standstill during the first half. And just as the world was beginning to pick up the pace, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced changes in the visa rules. According to these new rules, international students currently studying or planning to pursue higher education in the US this fall will be forced back to their country should universities move classes online.

At a time when governments are coming together to get the ball rolling, reopening the economy,  businesses and universities need to be offered flexibility. But these new rules combined with setbacks in processing visas initially as a result of the pandemic will only weaken the economy, with a large number of international students being discouraged from attending an American university.

US institutions, stakeholders, and leaders across the country believe that this will not only drive away some of the one million students who study in the US but also strain colleges and universities more than ever. These new rules that bar international students from in the country appeal to different groups that favour reducing legal immigration to the States. This time it is the students that have to face the brunt of Trump’s anti-immigrant policies that have already affected foreign workers and seekers before this.

Impact on students

The guidance goes completely against the students – not just the ones who had returned to their home at the start of the year but also the ones who are currently planning to enrol in a university for the upcoming fall semester in the US. More importantly, these new rules will force international students to choose between putting their health at risk or face the risk of deportation.

Many students currently enrolled in the US are now considering taking time off or leaving their programs entirely. Even with universities offering blended learning, it does not make any sense to refuse the students the opportunity to make the most of their university experience which they have been looking forward to.

And that’s not all, for students in different time zones, it might mean attending classes in the middle of the night, dealing with spotty or no internet access. They might even lose their funding contingent on teaching or have to stop participating in research. Universities believe this step might just act as the final nail in the coffin, pushing a majority of students to attend a university or college in a country with more flexible policies.

Steps taken by universities 

Harvard and MIT had initially announced to go online for the fall semester, but this sudden announcement has dealt a huge blow to the higher education sector in the US. To express their outrage over the decision taken by the Trump administration, more universities including Princeton, Stanford University, and California Institute of Technology have come together in support of the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT to stop the government from enforcing the new rules.

In the meantime, university administrators are working hard to provide answers and offer reassurance to their students. Even universities that had decided to offer all online or a mix of blended classes are now trying to figure out a way to ensure they have enough in-person courses for international students to meet the requirements of the new visa rules.

Impact on the US higher education sector

International students contributed nearly USD 41 billion to the US economy and supported around 458,290 jobs during the 2018-19 academic year. Also, nearly 5.5% of domestic and international students enrolled in American universities are from the Asian subcontinent. Out of this, 202,014 students are from India, which is second only to China with 369,548 students. This decision will adversely impact the higher education sector across the US which has imposed a one-size-fits-all approach to an already difficult situation.

The pandemic had already pushed most students to delay the start of their semester and this recent guidance might force them to completely give up on attending a university in the US. Officials also added that losing international students will cause a massive setback to university budgets, and this will impact domestic students just as much. Moreover, F1 and M1 visa holders are not just the students, there are also tutor assistants (TA), laboratory assistants, research associates, and staff members who fall under this category.

Even the states are not backing out of this fight, with California becoming the first state to challenge the new student visa policy. Their argument completely valid that it is not just "absurd" to force students to attend lectures in person in the middle of a pandemic, but it also violates rules over the process by which federal agencies issue regulations.