US rescinds plan to send home some overseas students

INTERNATIONAL students in the US no longer have to worry about having to leave the country

The US government has rescinded a July 6 ruling that would have required them either to leave the country or change schools if their classes next semester were solely online, owing to the covid19 pandemic.

Last week the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a news release on its website announcing changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP).

It applied to non-immigrant students taking classes that have been or are being moved online.

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

It also said the US would not issue visas to students who enrolled in schools that were fully online for the fall semester, and would not allow them into the country.

But on Tuesday afternoon, US media reported that ICE had decided to discontinue this plan.

USA Today reported, “A Massachusetts judge announced the decision during a federal court hearing in a case filed last week by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Judge Allison D Burroughs said the universities' request for a preliminary injunction blocking the rule was moot because the government had agreed to rescind the policy."

National Security Minister Stuart Young had recently told the public there is “no need to fear,” after he spoke to the US embassy.

He had said the embassy "explained to me is that the US visas continue to be okay in the US. It is only if a student is now in a situation where all of their courses – every single course, every single credit – is being carried out online, then they will be asked to leave the US."