Student Union
Student Visa Changes Indicated Under Biden
Immigration rules for international students at U.S. colleges and universities have undergone multiple changes during the Trump administration. In his transition plan, President-elect Joe Biden proposes changing some of them to loosen visa restrictions.
Biden, projected as winner of the November 3 presidential election, does not specifically refer to undergraduate foreign students in his “Plan for Securing Our Values as a Nation of Immigrants,” at JoeBiden.com.
But he says he will increase the number of visas for “permanent, employment-based immigration — and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment.”
Foreign students identify barriers to permanent employment opportunities in the United States as a reason some do not pick America as an education destination, according to the Institute for International Education (IIE).
U.S. colleges and universities enrolled more than 1 million international students last year, but after decades of increase, enrollment has stalled in the past two years, IIE says.
Issuance of the F-1, or student visa, has decreased over the past four years, according to State Department data. In fiscal 2016, 502,214 F-1 visas were issued. In 2017, the number dropped to 421,008. In 2019, 388,839 F-1 visas were issued.
Student visas are issued by the State Department and administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
“Biden believes that foreign graduates of a U.S. doctoral program should be given a green card with their degree and that losing these highly trained workers to foreign economies is a disservice to our own economic competitiveness,” the president-elect's website says.
Most international students come to the U.S. on F-1 visas. After graduation, some apply for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows students to work in their major field of study for up to 12 months. Students with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) can extend their OPT for up to 24 months.
Students who want to remain in the U.S. and gain work experience, especially those in STEM fields, seek H-1B visas after OPT.
More than 30% of international students come from China and 20% from India. Those students typically pursue STEM degrees, according to IIE.
President Donald Trump made cases of theft of intellectual property by foreign students who worked for U.S. companies or federal agencies the foundation of his curbs on student immigration. The administration also cited espionage among international students and guest workers to justify limiting their access to the U.S.
International students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 458,290 jobs in the 2018-19 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Here is a history of student visa changes attempted and implemented under the Trump administration:
September 2020: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a rule limiting student visas to a fixed four-year term. To remain longer, international students would have to apply for an extension.
Also, students from a country with a visa overstay rate of 10% or a country on the U.S. State Department’s State Sponsor of Terrorism list would be limited to two years.
DHS accepted public feedback until October 26, and the rule remains under consideration.
July 2020: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a modification that would compel international students enrolled in online-only courses at U.S. universities and colleges to be on campus during a pandemic or risk deportation.
The modification was rescinded after Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued ICE with signatures of support from officials at more than 200 U.S. universities.
June 2020: The Trump administration issued an order suspending H-1B, J and other temporary work visas. The ban affected applicants and lasts until the end of this year.
May 2020: On May 29, Trump issued an executive order banning Chinese graduate students on an F or J visa and Chinese researchers from entering the U.S.
J visas holders are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange visitor programs in the U.S.
The White House issued numerous statements saying China has engaged in acquiring U.S. technology and intellectual property “in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military” and that some “Chinese postgraduate students and postdoctorate researchers operate as nontraditional collectors of intellectual property.” The order did not apply to Chinese undergraduate students or green card holders.
China has sent the largest number of international students to the U.S. for 10 consecutive years: 369,548 students in undergraduate, graduate, nondegree and OPT programs out of 1,095,299 in 2019, according to the Institute for International Education.
February 2020: The Trump administration issued a rule requiring international students to seek approval for staying during each stage of their studies in the U.S. The rule established a “maximum period of authorized stay” to reduce overstay rates and to lessen “confusion over how long they may lawfully remain in the United States.”
June 2019: International students created petitions or wrote letters citing long processing times for federal work authorization and asked their universities for assistance. Some students lost internships and money spent on housing and flights.
May 2019: DHS announced increases in fees charged to international students, exchange visitors and other schools.
For F and M international students — M visas allow internationals to participate in nonacademic or vocational studies — the I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $200 to $350. For J exchange visitors who are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange programs, the full I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $180 to $220.
For Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified schools — those that host F and M visa holders — the certification petition fee increased from $1,700 to $3,000.
May 2018: USCIS issued a memorandum changing how it calculates “unlawful presence” for nonimmigrants on F, J and M visas and their dependents. Graduates who overstay their visas could face up to a 10-year ban from the country under the policy.
The change is intended to “reduce the number of overstays” and “improve how USCIS implements the unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility,” USCIS stated.
USCIS published a revised policy memorandum after receiving feedback from the public.
January 2017: On January 27, Trump signed an executive order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.
This impacted immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holders from Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, including students. The list has since been amended and now applies to 13 countries.
The New York Times reported that an estimated 17,000 students in the United States were impacted by the ban, most of them from universities in the Northeast and California.
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Pro-Palestinian protests spread on US university campuses
U.S. university campuses are seeing pro-Palestinian protests daily. Students are demonstrating against the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and demanding that humanitarian aid be allowed to flow into the territory. VOA’s Veronica Balderas Iglesias reports.
US police clash with students who demand colleges cut financial ties to Israel
Police tangled with student demonstrators in the U.S. states of Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
At the University of Texas at Austin, hundreds of local and state police — including some on horseback and holding batons — clashed with protesters, pushing them off the campus lawn and at one point sending some tumbling into the street. At least 20 demonstrators were taken into custody at the request of university officials and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, according to the state Department of Public Safety.
A photographer covering the demonstration for Fox 7 Austin was arrested after being caught in a push-and-pull between law enforcement and students, the station confirmed. A longtime Texas journalist was knocked down in the mayhem and could be seen bleeding before police helped him to emergency medical staff who bandaged his head.
At the University of Southern California, police got into a back-and-forth tugging match with protesters over tents, removing several before falling back. At the northern end of California, students were barricaded inside a building for a third day at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. The school shut down campus through the weekend and made classes virtual.
Harvard University in Massachusetts had sought to stay ahead of protests this week by limiting access to Harvard Yard and requiring permission for tents and tables. That didn't stop protesters from setting up a camp with 14 tents Wednesday following a rally against the university's suspension of the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee.
Students protesting the Israel-Hamas war are demanding schools cut financial ties to Israel and divest from companies enabling its monthslong conflict. Dozens have been arrested on charges of trespassing or disorderly conduct. Some Jewish students say the protests have veered into antisemitism and made them afraid to set foot on campus.
Columbia University averted another confrontation between students and police earlier in the day. The situation there remained tense, with campus officials saying it would continue talks with protesters for another 48 hours.
On a visit to campus, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, called on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign "if she cannot bring order to this chaos."
"If this is not contained quickly and if these threats and intimidation are not stopped, there is an appropriate time for the National Guard," he said.
Shafik had set a midnight Tuesday deadline to reach an agreement on clearing an encampment, but the school extended negotiations, saying it was making "important progress."
On Wednesday evening, a Columbia spokesperson said rumors that the university had threatened to bring in the National Guard were unfounded. "Our focus is to restore order, and if we can get there through dialogue, we will," said Ben Chang, Columbia's vice president for communications.
Columbia graduate student Omer Lubaton Granot, who put up pictures of Israeli hostages near the encampment, said he wanted to remind people that there were more than 100 hostages still being held by Hamas.
"I see all the people behind me advocating for human rights," he said. "I don't think they have one word to say about the fact that people their age, that were kidnapped from their homes or from a music festival in Israel, are held by a terror organization."
Harvard law student Tala Alfoqaha, who is Palestinian, said she and other protesters want more transparency from the university.
"My hope is that the Harvard administration listens to what its students have been asking for all year, which is divestment, disclosure and dropping any sort of charges against students," she said.
Columbia encampment inspires others
Police first tried to clear the encampment at Columbia last week, when they arrested more than 100 protesters. The move backfired, acting as an inspiration for other students across the country to set up similar encampments and motivating protesters at Columbia to regroup.
On Wednesday about 60 tents remained at the Columbia encampment, which appeared calm. Security remained tight around campus, with identification required and police setting up metal barricades.
Columbia said it had agreed with protest representatives that only students would remain at the encampment and they would make it welcoming, banning discriminatory or harassing language.
On the University of Minnesota campus, a few dozen students rallied a day after nine protesters were arrested when police took down an encampment in front of the library. U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, whose daughter was among the demonstrators arrested at Columbia last week, attended a protest later in the day.
A group of more than 80 professors and assistant professors signed a letter Wednesday calling on the university's president and other administrators to drop any charges and to allow future encampments without what they described as police retaliation.
They wrote that they were "horrified that the administration would permit such a clear violation of our students' rights to freely speak out against genocide and ongoing occupation of Palestine."
Netanyahu encourages police response
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on U.S. college campuses in a video statement released Wednesday, saying the response of several university presidents has been "shameful" and calling on state, local and federal officials to intervene.
Students at some protests were hiding their identities and declined to identify themselves to reporters, saying they feared retribution. At an encampment of about 40 tents at the heart of the University of Michigan's campus in Ann Arbor, almost every student wore a mask, which was handed to them when they entered.
The upwelling of demonstrations has left universities struggling to balance campus safety with free speech rights. Many long tolerated the protests, but are now doling out more heavy-handed discipline, citing safety concerns.
At New York University this week, police said 133 protesters were taken into custody and all had been released with summonses to appear in court on disorderly conduct charges. More than 40 protesters were arrested Monday at an encampment at Yale University.
Columbia University demonstrators in talks with administration officials
Officials at Columbia University were continuing talks Wednesday with student demonstrators from the Gaza Solidarity Encampment as the protest reaches a full week.
At 9:41 p.m. Tuesday, university President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik sent an email to the Columbia community setting a midnight deadline for an agreement to be reached about dismantling the encampment and dispersing the protesters.
“I very much hope these discussions are successful,” she wrote. “If they are not, we will have to consider alternative options for clearing the West Lawn and restoring calm to campus so that students can complete the term and graduate.”
As midnight passed, Columbia University Apartheid Divest posted a statement on X saying, “We refuse to concede to cowardly threats and blatant intimidation by university administration. We will continue to peacefully protest.”
The statement also said the university had threatened to call the National Guard. But after visiting the university earlier in the week, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said Tuesday she had no plans to deploy the National Guard.
As midnight approached on Tuesday, a student organizer announced that the deadline had been extended to 8 a.m. Wednesday.
At 4:09 a.m., the Office of the President sent an email saying the discussion deadline would be extended for 48 hours, given the constructive dialogue, and the university would report back on progress.
The email announced that leaders of the student encampment had agreed to remove a significant number of tents, get non-Columbia affiliates to leave the encampment and comply with New York Fire Department requirements. They also agreed to ensure that the encampment is “welcome to all” and to prohibit “discriminatory or harassing language.”
This development comes nearly a week after more than 100 students were arrested at the school on April 18, after Shafik authorized police to clear away protesters. Some of the students received suspension notices from the school.
Columbia’s action prompted an onslaught of pro-Palestinian demonstrations at other universities and responses from faculty and politicians.
Students at other campuses, such as Yale, Stanford and New York University, have also rallied around the Palestinian cause, calling for their universities to divest from companies with ties to Israel and for a cease-fire in Gaza. Many also have put up tent encampments on their campuses. About 150 students and faculty were arrested at New York University Monday night.
Columbia also announced Tuesday morning that classes on the Morningside main campus, where the protests are taking place, will be offered in a hybrid format for the remainder of the spring semester. The last day of classes is April 29.
- By VOA News
Paper: International students faced extra pandemic challenges
Astrobites, which describes itself as "a daily astrophysical literature journal written by graduate students in astronomy since 2010," focuses on the challenges international students faced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It examines a paper published in the Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education entitled The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on International Students in a Public University in the United States: Academic and Non-academic Challenges.
Read the Astrobites article here. (April 2024)
- By VOA News
15 cheapest US universities for international students
Yahoo!Finance has compiled a list of the 15 cheapest U.S. universities for international students.
Among them: Arizona State University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Michigan State University.
Read the list here. (March 2024)
