A Ruthless Ultimatum for International Students

There’s one thing all international students learn about before they even set foot in the United States: how to maintain their legal status. It’s something they’ll be reminded of over and over again once they’re on campus—to be considered international students in the United States, students have to enroll full-time in an institution approved by the Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP), the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division that manages schools and international students. The program of study has to be mostly in-person, and students are required to complete the program within a certain period of time.

As a former international student—one who knows many other international students currently studying in this country—I can say with confidence that most international students are doing their best to follow the government’s rules and maintain their legal status. But earlier this week, the Trump administration released a stunning ultimatum for international students—one that promises to render all of their previous efforts meaningless.

On July 6, SEVP issued new Fall 2020 regulations barring international students from taking classes or remaining in the United States if their school chooses to stay fully online. Students enrolled in such schools must either transfer to another institution that offers in-person classes or leave the country. Failure to do so could result in deportation.

This guidance is a complete reversal of the more flexible tone SEVP took nearly four months ago, when the pandemic forced colleges to close their campuses and move programs online. At the time, SEVP allowed students to take online classes while maintaining their legal status in the United States.

Now, with COVID-19 continuing to escalate across the country and colleges still navigating the uncertainty of the situation, the rule comes as a huge blow to both students and their institutions.

According to the SEVP data library, as many as 1.5 million international students are currently pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in the United States. Each of the top four universities for international enrollment hosts more than 18,000 international students on campus. While a small number of international students returned to their home countries when COVID-19 hit U.S. shores in March, more than 90 percent are estimated to still remain in the country.

Many of these students chose to remain in the United States so as to not disrupt their study. Taking a Zoom class in their home country’s time zone would be challenging, to say the least—not to mention the fact that many international students wouldn’t be able to access the same learning infrastructure in their home country. Even for students who want to leave, international flights are scarce, expensive, and risky, with countries still restricting international travel.

According to the guidance’s language, students can still legally remain in the United States if their institution offers hybrid programs: As long as their program offers “a mixture of online and in person classes,” students can take more than one class online and still maintain their legal status. Per The Chronicle of Higher Education’s tracker, as of July 7, only 8 percent of colleges are planning to go fully online—59 percent plan to open for in-person classes, and 25 percent are opting for hybrid models. If this holds in the fall, a majority of international students will be able to safely remain in the country.

But there’s no guarantee that colleges won’t change their plans. In response to a growing number of COVID-19 cases in California, the University of Southern California—which hosted more than 18,000 international students in 2018—has reversed its initial plan for a hybrid model and shifted back to mainly online classes. If institutions change their model mid-semester, the restriction will still take effect: International students will have to leave the country or face deportation.

Thus, the administration has delivered a harsh ultimatum to universities and students. In order to retain their international students, schools need to remain somewhat open—which means risking the health and safety of their students, faculty, and staff. And international students will be forced to either risk their own health to enroll in in-person classes or hastily find flights home now—which, in many cases, don’t exist.

International students who are already in their home countries aren’t safe from the rule, either. These students can still maintain their active status in SEVP records if they continue to take classes online, but this will be permitted only if their institution is fully online. If their school offers a hybrid or in-person model, they’ll have to take class in the United States to be considered an active student.

In short, no matter what institutions decide to do, international students will be severely impacted. Disruption to their study—and their lives—is inevitable.

We can expect to learn more about the new guidance and its implementation in the next few weeks, as SEVP responds to questions from colleges and universities. And we’ll also learn very soon what route institutions choose to take, since SEVP isn’t giving them much time to make a decision: Colleges must respond by July 15 on whether they’re going fully online in the fall. Harvard and MIT have already filed a lawsuit against SEVP on the rule, and we can expect other institutions to follow suit.

We can also guess at the longer-term implications of this guidance. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, international student enrollment was already contracting due to the administration’s anti-immigrant, xenophobic rhetoric. Institutions have been expecting further decline in new international enrollment as a result of the pandemic, and this latest rule will only intensify that loss.

Let’s call the new guidance what it is: a ruthless attack by the Trump administration against a vulnerable group of foreigners—people who have placed their trust in this country, who contribute academically and financially to the institutions they’re enrolled in, and who support and expand the U.S. economy. International students deserve support and protection from the country that hosts them, not desertion. This guidance signals to the world that U.S. higher education is no longer safe and welcoming to students globally—and it will have grave consequences for years to come.