Thursday, 28 March, 2024, 10:44 PM
Advance Search
Home

Foreign students fear future over Trump visa threat

Harvard, MIT sue Trump govt over visa order

Published : Friday, 10 July, 2020 at 12:00 AM  Count : 407

NEW YORK, July 9: Hundreds of thousands of foreigners enrolled in American universities are now fearing for their future after Donald Trump's administration threatened to revoke their visas.
The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced this week that foreign students whose entire courses have moved online because of the coronavirus pandemic must return to their home country.
Harvard and MIT launched a lawsuit Wednesday, asking the court to revoke the order that Harvard President Lawrence Bacow said had thrown higher education in the US "into chaos." Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester but Harvard has said all its classes for the 2020-21 academic year will be conducted online "with rare exceptions."
Some 40 percent of undergraduates will be allowed to return to campus, but their instruction will be conducted remotely. It says packed classrooms endanger the health of students and teachers. In June, he froze until 2021 the issuing of green cards -- which offer permanent US resident status -- and some work visas, particularly those used in the technology sector.
But the action has done little to alleviate the worries of foreign students, of which there were more than one million in the United States in 2019, a doubling in 20 years, according to the Institute of International Education (IEE).
Some 84% of universities are planning to offer a hybrid system of in-person and online classes, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education website, which would save students from deportation.
Many students fear a resurgence of the pandemic later this year, though, which could see all classes moved online, forcing them to leave the country. Students are not the only ones concerned: the universities themselves are worried that Trump's immigration policies are making their institutions less attractive. They fear losing foreign students to cheaper colleges in Europe.    -AFP







Latest News
Most Read News
Editor : Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury
Published by the Editor on behalf of the Observer Ltd. from Globe Printers, 24/A, New Eskaton Road, Ramna, Dhaka.
Editorial, News and Commercial Offices : Aziz Bhaban (2nd floor), 93, Motijheel C/A, Dhaka-1000.
Phone: PABX- 41053001-06; Online: 41053014; Advertisement: 41053012.
E-mail: info©dailyobserverbd.com, news©dailyobserverbd.com, advertisement©dailyobserverbd.com, For Online Edition: mailobserverbd©gmail.com
  [ABOUT US]     [CONTACT US]   [AD RATE]   Developed & Maintenance by i2soft