TT students at risk of being deported from US

The US government says foreign students currently on student visas who are taking full-time online classes could face removal from the country.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a news release on its website announcing changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) for non-immigrant students taking classes that are moved online owing to the covid19 epidemic.

Highlighting the fall 2020 semester, the release said non-immigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools “operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the SEVP.”

Non-immigrant F-1 students do academic coursework and M-1 students do vocational coursework while studying in the US.

A second rule says the US will not issue visas to students who enrolled in schools which are fully online for the fall semester and will not allow any such students to enter the country.

Further, students who are already in the country and enrolled in fully online programmes are advised to leave the US, transfer to an institution that offers in-person classes, or face “immigration consequences.”