U.S. WON’T ALLOW IN NEW INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

Washington: The United States will not allow the entry of new international students for the upcoming fall semester if their courses are entirely online, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said on Friday.

In a release, the ICE said “F and M students in new or initial status after March 9, 2020, will not be able to enter the United States to enrol in a US school as a non-immigrant student for the fall term to pursue a full course of study that is 100 per cent online.”

It also said school officials should not issue a Form I-20, “Certificate of Eligibility for Non-immigrant Student Status,” for a student in new or initial status who is outside of the United States and plans to take classes at an certified educational institution fully online. A guidance issued on March 9, 2020 by the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme (SEVP), which the ICE uses to manage foreign students and exchange visitors in the United States, has allowed schools and students to engage in distance learning in excess of regulatory limits due to the coronavirus pandemic.