Some foreign students barred

A week after revoking sweeping new restrictions on international students, federal immigration officials on Friday announced that new foreign students will be barred from entering the United States if they plan to take their classes entirely online this fall.

In a memo to college officials, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said new students who were not already enrolled as of March 9 will “likely not be able to obtain” visas if they intend to take courses entirely online. The announcement primarily affects new students hoping to enroll at universities that will provide classes entirely online as a result of the pandemic.

Foreign students who are already in the U.S. or are returning from abroad and already have visas will still be allowed to take classes entirely online.

The policy strikes a blow to colleges a week after hundreds united to repel a Trump administration policy that threatened to deport thousands of foreign students. That rule sought to bar all international students in the U.S. from taking classes entirely online this fall, even if their universities were forced to switch to fully online instruction amid an outbreak.

The American Council on Education, a group of university presidents, said it was disappointed by the guidance.

“We have been fearing this and preparing for this. We’re still disappointed,” said Brad Farnsworth, vice president of the group.

The rule threatening to deport thousands of foreign students if they took their classes online was widely seen as part of Trump’s recent campaign to pressure the nation’s schools and colleges to reopen this fall.