United States Immigration just released new guidance regarding visas for new international college students that effectively bars them from entering the country if their institution is fully online.
Back in March, ICE and the Department of State announced legislation that all international students whose institution was fully online for the fall semester would not be permitted re-entry to the country or would be deported if they had not already left. That legislation has since been rescinded as of July 14th.
However, they just released clarification for new international students who now face the same fate. The announcement, made on July 24th of this year, states that all new nonimmigrant or international students planning to take classes at a fully online university will likely not be able to obtain a F-1 or M-1 visa.
Marymount University is currently working to ensure that all new international students have the opportunity to study in the United States by offering in-person classes, completely eliminating their application deadline, and also offering scholarships in order to accommodate as many new international students as possible.
“So we want them to continue to follow their dream. So we are doing everything on our side to do that here. Start at Marymount, they can continue at Marymount or they can transfer, if they want to transfer later, that’s fine. We just want them to be able to have an option to start their studies.” – President Irma Becerra
Like other higher education officials, President Becerra described how invaluable international students are to not only her institution but also to the country as a whole.
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