Change to
foreign student visa policies being discussed at the United States Department
of Homeland Security would require international students to reapply
annually
for permission to stay in the United States, according to the Washington Post.
The change
being discussed would attach an end date to a student’s study programme. Under
current federal regulations, a foreign student’s immigration status is valid as
long as he or she is enrolled in college or university and follows the rules.
Students can transfer from one educational institution to another and many
remain in the country for years without having to reapply, the Post said.
The proposal
also would require students to reapply for permission to stay in the United
States if they move from one programme to another, such as from undergraduate
to graduate school. Foreign students who need more time to complete their
studies could also be required to apply for an extension.
Foreign
students pay a one-time fee of about $200, but that could change if the
proposal moves forward, the Post reported.
The Post
noted that the idea, far from being a done deal, would require regulatory
changes, which could take at least 18 months.
Citing two
unnamed Department of Homeland Security or DHS officials, the Post said the
proposal was prompted by concerns that current federal regulations for student
visas are too open-ended.
A DHS report
released last month found that students were among those most likely to
overstay their visa. An estimated 2.8 per cent of the more than 1.4 million
student and exchange visa holders in 2016 overstayed their visas, more than
double the national average for visitors.
DHS
spokesman David Lapan confirmed to the Post that the agency “is exploring a
variety of measures that would ensure that our immigration programmes —
including programmes for international students studying in the United States —
operate in a manner that promotes the national interest, enhances national
security and public safety and ensures the integrity of our immigration
system”.
The change,
if implemented, could be expensive for universities and would likely dissuade
more foreign students from studying in the United States.
Enrolment
trends
The US
Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments this autumn on a Trump administration
plan to ban travel to the United States from six Muslim-majority countries.
A recently
released survey of 112 US colleges and universities by the Institute of
International Education found that undergraduate enrolment trends for autumn
2017 remain steady, while a similar survey by the Council of Graduate Schools
found that nearly half of deans of graduate schools reported declines in the
number of accepted students who have committed to attend.
More than
one million foreign students were earning academic credit in the United States
in 2015 and the jointly contributed more than $35bn to the US economy,
according to the Institute of International Education, a non-profit
organisation in New York.
DHS was
established in 2002, in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on 11 September
2001, to coordinate federal efforts to protect homeland security. Some of the
attackers had used student visas to gain entry into the United States but never
showed up on campus.
Now, DHS’s
Immigration and Customs Enforcement tracks foreign students through its Student
and Exchange Visitor Programme. Institutions that host international students
are required to monitor and report on the status of those students’ enrolments
through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Enrolments
in US universities dipped slightly in the years after the attack, but they have
returned to record levels.
The new DHS
plan, as described by the Post, was called “duplicative and unnecessary” by
Jill Welch, deputy executive director for public policy at NAFSA: Association
of International Educators. She and other higher education groups also stressed
the value international students contribute to the United States, including
campus diversity, expertise in certain fields and billions of dollars to the
economy.
Source:
worlduniversitynews.com
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