International students applying for a student visa will not be able to enter the United States if their courses are only online, which is likely to be the case at many universities due to the coronavirus, police said on Friday (July 24). American Immigration (ICE).
The administration of Donald Trump, which maintains a hard line against illegal immigration and which, in the context of the pandemic, has suspended the issuance of several visas, announced in early July that it would not allow foreign students already present to stay in the country if their courses were only online at the start of the school year.
Status after March 9
Faced with the general outcry – the prestigious Harvard universities and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had immediately filed a complaint – the Republican government had finally backed down.
“Students with a status after March 9 will not be able to enter the United States to take courses in an American school at the start of the school year if they follow a program 100% online”, however recalled the immigration police on Friday.
Before the pandemic, it was already impossible to obtain a student visa by taking courses only online. The United States has nearly a million foreign students.
