New policy unveiled for incoming international students

The Trump administration announced Friday that new international students who sought college enrollment after March 9 must take in-person courses to enter the country.

School officials cannot issue a Form I-20, an important document provided by the school for student visa eligibility, to new foreign students who are currently outside of the U.S. and plan to enter the country to take classes at an educational institution fully online.

The announcement comes about a week and a half after the administration reversed a July 6 rule change for international students by resolving a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in federal court.

That rule change would have required international students to attend in-person classes to stay in the country, but after the reversal, international students already enrolled in a U.S. college or university can maintain their visa requirements even if their university or college opts out of in-person instruction to mitigate COVID-19 spread.

All three of Arizona’s public universities had condemned the federal policy and joined legal action against the ruling.

Arizona State University, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University all also have plans to partially reopen each of their campuses to in-person instruction next month. The universities’ presidents said their plans for a flex schedule, which will mix in-person and online offerings, will protect international students and the schools from having their visa eligibility impacted.