US instructs international students to leave country if universities switches to online classes

Washington DC, July 07: The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that the US will depart the international students if all of their classes are moved online in the fall semester due to the coronavirus pandemic. They will neither get visas nor be allowed to enter the country.

 

"Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States," the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office said in a statement on this day.

 

 

ICE said it would not allow holders of student visas to remain in the country if their school was fully online for the fall. Those students must transfer or leave the country, or they potentially face deportation proceedings, according to the announcement. Colleges and universities have begun to announce plans for the fall 2020 semester amid the continued coronavirus pandemic.

 

Harvard University on Monday announced it would conduct course instruction online for the 2020-2021 academic year. Meanwhile, Stanford University said it will allow freshmen and sophomores to stay on campus in the fall while juniors and seniors study remotely from home.

 

Princeton University also announced that first-year students and juniors will be allowed back on campus for the fall, while sophomores and seniors will be allowed to return for the spring, according to a news release. Most courses will take place online and tuition will be discounted by 10%, the school said.

 

The ICE has advised the schools and the colleges to update their information in Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) within 10 days of the change if they begin the fall semester with in-person classes but are later required to switch to only online classes, or a nonimmigrant student changes their course selections, and as a result, ends up taking an entirely online course load.

 

If schools offer both in-person and online classes, foreign students will have to be at the campus and can’t just take their classes online if they wish to stay in the U.S., according to the statement.

 

"If students find themselves in this situation, they must leave the country or take alternative steps to maintain their nonimmigrant statuses such as a reduced course load or appropriate medical leave,” they also added.

 

International students attending U.S. colleges & universities contribute $41 billion to the economy each year, an additional $10 billion in spending outside of tuition, and are responsible for supporting over 458,000 jobs. There were more than one million international students in the United States for the 2018-19 academic year. The largest number of international students comes from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada.