US student visas left international students’ future hanging

As the on-going COVID-19 pandemic led higher education around the globe to virtual tuition so that more students’ learning could be continued, a policy adjustment with a different tone, supporting only face-to-face tuition, was suddenly dropped by the US, deciding that “international students whose courses move fully online this autumn could face having their visas revoked”.

The decision raised great uncertainty, fear and anxiety among millions of international students who were counting on the student visa in the US at the moment. BBC made a report regarding this revealing the difficult situation of 6 international students from various countries when the US government tightened its policy of oversea students.

“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.” Qinyuhui Chen, a Chinese national studying psychology and fine art at Penn State University said in the interview with BBC.

“Like many other international students, I came back home to India right before the country went into lockdown. Everything has been online since then. 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,” Tanisha Mittal from India, studying for a master’s in health management and policy at the University of Michigan, spoke to BBC.

“I live my life not knowing when I'll be able to start university or start competing for my cross country team. I've been signed to run for the school, so potentially not being able to go there in August leaves me in fear that my scholarship may be rejected,” Molly Canham from the UK, who has been offered a sports scholarship to study at Louisiana State University, told BBC.

“If you look at it from the point of view of the administration, if a university is completely online you don't need to be in the US. It's logical, I think. But then again, the US needs international students to work for them and to keep their universities going.” Dev Wadhwa from India, majoring in computer sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, suggested.

“Everyone was very panicked and anxious,” Nox Yanga from China, studying sociology and film at UCLA, may now face difficulty enrolling in on-site classes considering that most of the online ones currently offered are for courses in science and maths.

Iris Li, a junior student from China at Emory University in Atlanta but is currently in Beijing told BBC that her visa appointment was cancelled earlier due to the suspended routine visa services at the moment. “It's disappointing,” she said, as the ICE rule means she possibly won’t be issued a new student visa if taking only a fully online curriculum like now.