US bars entry of newly-enrolling international students if all classes are online

In a setback for international students, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 24 said newly enrolling non-immigrant students will not be allowed to enter the country if their courses have gone fully online.

The ICE directive said "non-immigrant students in new or initial status after March 9 will not be able to enter the U.S. to enroll in a U.S. school as a non-immigrant student for the fall term to pursue a full course of study that is 100 percent online."

This will mainly impact those foreign students enrolling for courses offered by American universities after the March 9 deadline. Additionally, ICE has directed designated school officials to not issue a Form I-20 to a non-immigrant student in "new or initial status" who is outside of the US and plans to take classes at fully-online educational institution.

The latest development comes after the Trump administration withdrew an earlier sweeping order pertaining to international students, amid legal challenges from several universities.

Earlier this month, the US government had said it would not issue visas to foreign students if their classes had been moved online due to the coronavirus pandemic. As per the earlier order, non-immigrant students on F-1 and M-1 visas were barred from remaining in the US or entering the country if their studies had been moved online. The order had drawn widespread criticism and had created panic among foreign students who were faced with a sudden uncertainty.

Many leading universities like Harvard and MIT sued the Trump administration and sought seek a temporary restraining order and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief to bar ICE from enforcing the new guidelines that would force international students to leave the US. Subsequently, the order was rescinded following widespread condemnation of the move and pressure from colleges and major businesses.