The US State Department and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement aggressively revise the visa to international students, targeting with the abolition and removal of their legal status. With Indians formed the largest group of international students, it is not surprising that most of the affected people are from India.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association collected 327 reports of visa revival and termination of sevis from lawyers, students and university staff and found that 50% of these international students were from India, followed by 14% from China.
Other important countries represented in this figures include South Korea, Nepal and Bangladesh. “These reports portray the picture of the arbitrary nature of these visas recurrence and termination,” it describes its policy briefly.
According to an open door report for the academic year 2023-24, India sent more than 3.3 lakh students to pursue higher education in the US-23% increase compared to the last year. China was the second prominent place of origin with about 2.8 lakh students -it was a slight decline of 4% compared to the previous year. The real evidence suggests that the number of Indian students willing to study in the US seems rapidly dip.
However, even international students are undergoing action, several hundred students have filed cases in the US district courts, challenging the arbitrariness of their legal status. Many courts have also provided ‘temporary prevention orders’, enabling students to continue their studies in the US.
Referring to AILA’s policy brief, Congress MP Jairam Ramesh posted on X: “A press statement issued by the American Immigration Counsels Association is a cause of concern for us in India yesterday. 50%of the 327 visa cancellation cases of international students collected by the organization, 50%of the 327 visa cancellation cases of the organization, this is randomly with Indians. He also tagged the Foreign Minister’s Jaishankar.
“We know that many Indian students have received communication from the US government about their F -1 visa status, which is a student visa. We are looking at the matter. Our embassy and consulate are in touch to provide support with the students,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said in a weekly press briefing.
On completion of their studies, international students are allowed to gain work experience under the alternative practical training program for one year – it is extended to two years from students from science, technology, engineering and mathematics. According to an open doors reports, more than 97,000 students were undergoing opt posts of their studies, from India, while the Chinese students pursuing opt were around 61,000.
Aila’s policy briefly states that 50% of the affected students were on opt. “These individuals are unable to work immediately at the end of their service records. The road to restore the situation for those who already graduated and working on opt, are much more difficult and mercury than those who are currently students,” this has been said.
The basis on which action was taken against international students was arbitrary. In some cases international students found that their sevis record was abolished and/or visa was canceled due to a criminal record – and they had no history of conversation with the police and had nothing in their records that would indicate visa cancellation.
Students who faced the police for violations are examples that most American citizens will consider a daily event. These included not wearing a seatbelt, tickets for illegal parking, or not including fast tickets and did not make visas and/or warrant. Termination of serviceElla.
There was no uniformity in the issue of notice of termination of service. There were many cases where there was a delay between the termination of the sevis and when the student was informed. This is risky because if students continue to work without eliminating their sevis, it can affect their immigration status, the AILA policy briefly.
