International students must leave the U.S if their Universities are not offering in-person classes

The US immigration and customs enforcement have said that for remaining in the country for the fall 2020 semester, all of the international students must attend in-person classes at their schools. Students who remain in the United States of America but take entirely the online courses might have to face the immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of the removal proceedings.”

The immigration of custom enforcement announced yesterday which stated: “There will still be accommodations to provide flexibility to schools and non-immigrant students, but as many institutions across the country reopen, there is a concordant need to resume the carefully balanced protections implemented by federal regulations.”

The new pupils who are matriculating at schools that are only offering the online courses will not receive visas according to ICE. Pupils that are already enrolled at the aforementioned schools will be required to either transfer or evacuate the country. About 8 percent of the academic institutions in the USA is planning to offer online-only semester as per the Chronicle of Higher education such as Bowdoin and Harvard. On the other hand, some schools are also planning to invite a fewer number of pupils back to the campus.

The students belonging to such institutes who offer a hybrid model for education will be allowed to stay in the country, providing that these students are not taking a fully online course load.

Schools will be obliged to certify to the SEVP (Student and Exchange Visitor Program) about the minimum number of online classes that required making normal progress that international students in their organization are taking.

Meanwhile, the international pupils who remain in their countries will only be permitted to maintain the active status and take online course-load remotely if their school is online only.