Trump administration's new visa restrictions will affect thousands of foreign students

Foreign student including Pakistani students might be sent back to their countries

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.

This decision of Trump administration will affect thousands of foreign students including the students from Pakistan. They are facing the possibility of deportations after the new rules imposed by the administration.  Trump administration’s decision might impact the careers and future of thousands of students. Many students prefer USA over European countries because of better future opportunities.  

The Trump administration is making it more difficult for foreign students and professionals to get American Visa. The Trump administration continues to impose new restriction on visas since the COVID-19 pandemic has hit America.

Thousands of foreign students in the United States including those coming from the South Asian countries are facing the double challenge of either contracting the virus or be deported after the new visa restrictions were announced by the Donald Trump’s administration.

Harvard University 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."

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).

The students see themselves as collateral damage in Trump’s aggressive push to force universities and schools to reopen fully in September amid his reelection campaign.

More than 4,000 foreign students attend California’s public universities, and another nearly 5,000 at Harvard in Massachusetts, establishments that plan to offer online-only education this fall.

Some 84 percent 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.

The USA has a special allure and has always been drawing talented students like a magnet. Study in US  will allow for invaluable academic, professional and personal growth, and open up an infinite number of career opportunities after graduation. But there's more to why students worldwide think that the U.S. is the Holy Grail of international higher education.

                                                                                Naila Chaudhry