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New Foreign Students Can't Enter US If Courses Online, Feds Say

FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2018, photo, a gate opens to the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass.
FILE - In this Dec. 13, 2018, photo, a gate opens to the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Mass.

A week after revoking sweeping new restrictions on international students, federal immigration officials on Friday announced that new foreign students will be barred from entering the United States if they plan to take their classes entirely online this fall.

In a memo to college officials, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said new students who were not already enrolled as of March 9 will "likely not be able to obtain" visas if they intend to take courses entirely online. The announcement primarily affects new students hoping to enroll at universities that will provide classes entirely online as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

International students who are already in the U.S. or are returning from abroad and already have visas will still be allowed to take classes entirely online, according to the update, even if they begin instruction in-person but their schools move online in the face of a worsening outbreak.

The policy strikes a blow to colleges a week after hundreds united to repel a Trump administration policy that threatened to deport thousands of foreign students. That rule sought to bar all international students in the U.S. from taking classes entirely online this fall, even if their universities were forced to switch to fully online instruction amid an outbreak.

The new order was released Friday as a clarification to earlier guidance from March 9 that suspended existing limits around online education for international students. The March guidance was meant to provide flexibility as schools across the nation closed campuses amid the pandemic, but universities said it was unclear whether it extended to new students.

In its memo, ICE clarified that the flexibility applies only to students "who were actively enrolled at a U.S. school on March 9." Officials at some schools — including Harvard University and the University of Southern California, which are offering classes online this fall — had feared as much and already told first-year students they could not come from abroad.

The American Council on Education, a group of university presidents, said it was disappointed by the guidance. "We have been fearing this and preparing for this. We're still disappointed," said Brad Farnsworth, vice president of the group.

Harvard officials said they're asking Congress to extend the March guidance to new students but don't anticipate any changes by the fall term. New students can take classes online from abroad or defer their enrollment, the school said.

In a message to students Tuesday, Harvard's undergraduate dean, Rakesh Khurana, said the school "abhors" any policy that forces officials to choose between "our community's health and the education of our international students."

The rule threatening to deport thousands of foreign students if they took all their classes online was widely seen as part of Trump's recent campaign to pressure the nation's schools and colleges to reopen this fall.

Immigration officials rescinded the policy July 14 after it was challenged by eight federal lawsuits from states and universities. More than 200 schools had signed briefs supporting a suit brought by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The policy was issued as a growing number of colleges make the decision to hold classes entirely or primary online this fall. As virus cases continue to rise, schools including the University of California, Berkeley, and Rutgers University have announced the move this week.

Several education groups issued letters this week urging ICE to allow all international students, including new ones, to enter the country even if their schools were operating entirely online. They said many colleges had already prepared housing for international students, even at universities offering online instruction only.

The Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a coalition of college leaders, said it was disappointed by ICE's decision on new students. It places undue pressure on schools to offer at least some in-person instruction, the group said.

But other elements of the guidance took a step in the right direction, the group said, including the clarification that students can remain in the U.S. even if their schools switch to fully online instruction during the semester.

Colleges across the U.S. are already expecting sharp drops in the number of students coming from abroad amid the pandemic and a slowdown in visa processing. It's likely to deliver a financial hit to colleges that rely on revenue from international students, who typically pay higher tuition.

The nation attracted roughly 1.1 million international students in the 2018-19 school year. The American Council on Education estimates about 250,000 international students will enroll at U.S. universities this fall.

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Record 1.1 million international students in US, report finds

FILE - Students walk past the Thorne Hall at Occidental College campus in Los Angeles, July 27, 2023.
FILE - Students walk past the Thorne Hall at Occidental College campus in Los Angeles, July 27, 2023.

The U.S. has set a new record for international students, hosting more than 1.1 million students during the 2023-24 academic year, a new report says.

That's according to Boundless, which says its mission is "to empower every family to navigate the immigration system more confidently, rapidly and affordably."

Read the full story here. (November 2024)

Nigeria ranks No. 1 among African countries sending students to US

FILE - UCLA students celebrate during a commencement ceremony inside Pauley Pavilion on UCLA campus, in Los Angeles, June 14, 2024.
FILE - UCLA students celebrate during a commencement ceremony inside Pauley Pavilion on UCLA campus, in Los Angeles, June 14, 2024.

Nairametrics, an African news website, says that Nigeria has become the No. 1 African country sending students to the U.S.; worldwide, it's No. 7.

Read the story here. (November 2024)

International students face barriers in applying to Princeton, students say

FILE - The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is pictured at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ.
FILE - The Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs is pictured at Princeton University in Princeton, NJ.

International students face special challenges in applying to Princeton University, a story in The Daily Princetonian, the campus newspaper, says.

They include navigating Princeton's "holistic" immigration process.

Read the full story here. (November 2024)

International students at Amherst ponder visa concerns in Trump administration

FILE - US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., Nov. 19, 2024 .
FILE - US President-elect Donald Trump attends a viewing of the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket, in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., Nov. 19, 2024 .

International students at Amherst College talk about Donald Trump's upcoming U.S. presidency and what it might mean for them in this story from the student newspaper, The Amherst Student.

Specifically, they worry that the new president's administration might make it harder to get visas to study and work in the U.S.

Read the full story here. (November 2024)

Several students charged in hazing case at University of Alabama

FILE - The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower at the Malone Hood Plaza stands in front of Foster Auditorium on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala., June 16, 2019.
FILE - The Autherine Lucy Clock Tower at the Malone Hood Plaza stands in front of Foster Auditorium on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, Ala., June 16, 2019.

Several students were accused in a reported fraternity hazing incident at the University of Alabama in which a pledge said he was shoved, stepped on and had things thrown at him, according to NBC News.

Four men, age 20 to 22, were charged with two counts of hazing at the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. NBC News reports that some of the actions were captured on video. (October 2024)

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