Washington (US): Vardha Agarwal, a junior Bioengineering major from the University of Cincinnati is uncertain about her future in the United States after the government removed exemptions granted to them last semester. On top of dealing with the pandemic while being separated from her family, she now worries about her visa status and education. Many international students are suffering the same way and think that the new policies are unfair.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) new policy, international students must leave the country if their universities are online-only for the fall or transfer to another offering in-person classes. If not, they can be deported.
At universities offering hybrid models, international students need to enrol in at least a 1 credit-class in-person class to stay in the country. But if a university needs to transit completely to online mode in the mid-semester due to a second wave of COVID-19 cases, students have to depart the country.
Immigration lawyer, Manjunath Gokare stated that these policies are a political strategy by the Trump administration to reduce immigration or to force universities to re-open. He is advising students to stay calm as the policies have not yet been published in the federal register.
With schools such as Harvard and MIT suing the Trump administration, Gokare is hopeful that legal action will block these policies.
Read:| Student visa changes part of Trump's racist immigration policy: Expert
