The University of South Florida says it is working to understand the impact of a new federal requirement affecting thousands of its international students.
U.S Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency known as ICE, issued guidelines Monday stating that most international students may not remain in the U.S. if their courses are only online. The announcement came as Florida universities finalize their plans to reopen this fall amid a rising number of coronavirus cases.
Under the new rules, international students may take courses from U.S. institutions from their home countries, or transfer to other U.S. schools offering face-to-face instruction, the agency said. The rules apply to those with F-1 visas, which are for students in academic and language programs, and those with M-1 visas, for students in vocational programs.
If a university is offering a mix of in-person and online courses, as Florida’s state universities intend to do, international students on F-1 visas may take some of their courses online and still remain in the U.S. Students on M-1 visa statuses may not take any courses online. Those who don’t comply are subject to immigration consequences, including initiating deportation.
At USF, which is still completing its fall course schedule, international students make up a significant portion of the student population. Initial recommendations call for the school to offer a substantial number of face-to-face classes — as many as 80 percent of what was offered last fall before the pandemic started.
But it was unclear Monday exactly how the new rules would affect the school’s international students.
”USF is aware of the announcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and we are currently assessing how it may impact our students,” school spokesman Adam Freeman said in an email. “We intend to provide students with an update in the coming days.”
In 2019, USF enrolled 4,620 international students or about 9 percent of the student population. International and out-of-state students pay around 2.7 times more than Florida residents for undergraduate tuition and fees and slightly more than twice as much at the graduate level. Florida’s state universities enroll more than 30,000 international students, according to the State University System website.
Ocean Campbell, a 19-year-old USF student from Barbados, said he was still in disbelief over Monday’s announcement.
“It’s like they’re saying, ‘Go to school and risk your life or get out of the country,‘” he said. “It also seems like an unwise economic decision, because international students pay a hell of a lot of money to go to school in the U.S.”
Campbell said obtaining a visa to study in the U.S. in the first place can be difficult, especially in countries where standardized testing is not commonly offered. The new regulation, he said, has left most students with anxiety and questions over how this impacts their long-term visas and scholarships.
He said he hopes to see USF and other schools push back on the guidelines.
“They stress how important diversity is on campus,” he said. “... I’d really like to see what they do to protect us.”
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New immigration rules could push many international students to leave U.S. - Tampa Bay Times
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