Hyderabad: In a decision that will adversely impact thousands of Indian students, the US on Monday issued new guidelines which state that international students will be forced to leave the country or transfer to another college if their schools offer classes entirely online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. "If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings," it added.
India only nest to China in number of students
Notably, foreign students accounted for 5.5 per cent of the total US higher education population, according to the Institute of International Education (IIE), and international students contributed $44.7 billion to the US economy in 2018. The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.
The number of Indian students in the US is seeing a steady rise over the past few years as the figure reached 2,02,014, according to the Open Doors report 2019.
The hybrid model
International students enrolled in academic programs at US universities and colleges study on an F-1 visa and those enrolled in technical programs at vocational or other recognised nonacademic institutions, other than a language training programme come to the US on an M-1 visa.
Read: Trump admin says foreign students must leave US if classes go fully online
However, non-immigrant F-1 students attending schools adopting a hybrid model - a mix of online and in-person classes - will be allowed to take more than one class or three credit hours online.
These schools must certify to SEVP that the programme is not entirely online, the student is not taking an entirely online course this semester and students are taking the minimum number of online classes to make progress in their degree programmes.
Indian students facing financial crunch
The prevailing situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has created anxiety among the Indian students, who are now also dealing with financial crunch.
Indian students in the US are generally considered to be in the low income group unlike those from China, Taiwan, South Korea or Singapore.
Read: H1B Visa Termination: A critical analysis of the change in the visa policy of the United States
As a result, they depend on small jobs within campus to aid their finances. These small jobs also help students to obtain necessary work documents such as the "social security card" and establish a history of tax payment, items that become helpful as they obtain fulltime jobs later.
However, now with the pandemic, the students are facing loss of income from these jobs. Though small, these payments helped them meet other expenses during their stay.
Struggle for graduates
Indian students who are completing their degree this year, are also facing bleak employment prospects. The students receive 90 days after graduation to find a job. With a job offer, they can amend their student visa to an "OPT or Optional Practical Training" status and work legally for 12 months and earn money to pay off debts while gaining US experience.
However, now with the pandemic, job prospects look bleak for Indian students, thus threatening their plans.
