10th July 2020
US student visas: 'A lot of people I know are scared for the future'
By BBC
BBC - The spread of coronavirus has led to major changes for higher education across the world, with many institutions embracing virtual tuition as a way to allow students to continue their learning.
But US immigration authorities have now said that international students whose courses move fully online this autumn could face having their visas revoked.
An advisory said that unless students switch to courses with face-to-face tuition, they could be deported.
The decision has caused uncertainty and fear for the hundreds of thousands of international students who rely on student visas in the US.
The BBC spoke to some of those affected.
"I was pretty shocked when the announcement came out. It's just so sudden.
"Our school will be moving into complete online mode after Thanksgiving," she explains. She is worried about the impact this change could have on her visa status.
"Many of my friends thought that they could take online classes for the fall and have already returned home. For those who are still here, we're constantly keeping our eyes on the price of plane tickets.
"I think it's just not practical for us to rush back and forth between our home country and the US. I really hope that the school will maybe give us one [in-person] class after Thanksgiving so we can stay in the US.
"I would really hope that ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] reconsider the policy. It's affecting every single international student here in America. We paid huge amounts of money and came here with dreams. For those who cannot afford the plane tickets or whose home country has a closed border, they may face deportation.
"We are all so concerned."
"Like many other international students, I came back home to India right before the country went into lockdown. Everything has been online since then," she says.
"I finally booked my ticket last week to go back to the US. I woke up to this rule the next day. I was so anxious. I wasn't sure if I would be able to go back.
"I'm really scared that because of this confusing order I may be deported back when I arrive in the US. My flight is in 10 days, which makes the whole issue even more urgent for me.
"But there's no clarity. There are so many categories of students and this order applies differently to each of them: students who are in the US, students who are in their home countries, new admissions.
"Everyone is grappling with so many questions at this point. If your university is going online you need to go back to your country and if it is hybrid [both online and in-person] you need to go back to the US. The whole concept of personal choice has been removed and we're literally being compelled to do something that we may not want to do.
"With Covid-19, it's also unsafe because people from different countries would come back to campus. So, the risk has increased. What if cases surge and universities go fully online again? Will they ask us to go back? Will our visas be revoked? "
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