While international students can apply for visa extensions, the proposed process is considered cumbersome and the proposed rules are considered limited. Immigration experts are of the opinion that not all extension requests will be approved, but how it will play out remains to be seen.
International students will also need an extension to participate in the post-study optional practical training (OPT) training program, which is one year and three years for students in the fields of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) .
Currently, international students can stay in the US As long as they are pursuing studies (there is no fixed expiration date), this is known as ‘status duration’ admission. TOI had previously reported that the Trump administration proposed to change the admission rules to ‘length of stay’ with a fixed end date.
Under the proposed rule, F or J nonimmigrants (which covers academic course students, researchers, and their dependents) will be admitted to the United States for a period not to exceed four years. In certain cases, the authorized stay may even be limited to two years.
The two-year stay applies to international students who were born or are citizens of countries that are on the terrorist list and those countries that have an exaggerated visa permanence rate of more than 10%.
While India does not fall into these two categories, Indian students need to be careful. This is because the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) even proposes to limit the visa hold to two years when the educational institution is not a participant of the E-verify enrollment program or is not accredited by an agency recognized by the US Secretary of Education. The two-year limit also applies to students participating in language training programs.
While the numbers may have declined in the context of the pandemic, according to the Open Doors Report released last November, the US had more than a million international students, of which 2.02 lakh were from India. Once the rules are final, the authorized fixed tenure of stay will also apply to students already in the US, who were admitted under the ‘duration of status’ rules.
DHS in its proposed policy notes that students pursuing a bachelor’s or master’s degree make up 80% of nonimmigrant students in the US, and many would complete their studies in a four-year period without having to seek additional time.
Rajiv S. Khanna, an Arlington-based immigration attorney, told TOI: “For Indian students and other international students, the proposed fixed tenure creates a problem. A four-year limit is definitely shorter than a Ph.D. or even a bachelor’s course because students can opt for an additional semester in their bachelor’s course. Now, if the students who are already here have to request extensions, it will increase their expenses, but it also creates an additional element of uncertainty ”.
Doug Rand, co-founder of Boundless Immigration, a technology company in the field of immigration, tweeted: “The fact that I am in a doctoral program ‘no’ is one of the reasons for an extension of the student visa beyond out of the four years on the proposed rules. “And he adds,” Let the Trump administration treat America’s best-trained, most dedicated, and most critical tech Ph.D. students as a rounding error. ”
Other key points in the proposed rule are reducing the period to prepare for departure from 60 to 30 days and the routine collection of biometric data from those seeking an extension.
The proposed rule was published in the official registry today and a thirty-day period (until October 26) is open for public comment. Typically, after reviewing these comments, it takes a few months for a proposed rule to be final.
The stated goal is national security and the strengthening of immigration laws. Ken Cuccinelli, a senior official who performs the functions of undersecretary, stated: “Amending the pertinent regulations is fundamental to improve the mechanisms of supervision of the program; prevent foreign adversaries from exploiting the country’s educational environment; and properly enforce and strengthen US immigration laws. ”
However, immigration experts are skeptical about how exactly this proposed policy will help achieve the goals. “This is another example of politics without purpose. If there is a purpose that I can discern, it seems to be simply to make things more difficult for the students, increase their expenses and uncertainty, ”says Khanna.
He asks: “It doesn’t make any sense to have students who have been here for two or six years, to end their life and leave in just 30 days, how does reducing this 60-day period help to achieve the goals? Or to make them spend between $ 400 and $ 500 to continue expanding their status, it makes no other sense than to fill the coffers of the government. ”
According to the latest DHS ‘Overstay Report’, of the total number of international students 19.49 lakh (those of Mexico and Canada are not included in this statistic), who were scheduled to complete their studies during the 12-month period ended September 30, 2019, almost 60,000 or 3.09% more stay. As for Indian students, of the 1.59 lakh expected to leave by this date, 5,304 or 3.32% stayed longer. For its report, DHS considers F visa holders (those pursuing academic studies) and also vocational students and researchers who hold M and J visas respectively.
In this context, Khanna points out, “Less than 5% of Indian students have any real or suspected incident of visa overstays. So, would this proposed policy make 95% of students uncomfortable to try to address a perceived problem in 5%? ”
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