Student Union
Student Visa Changes Indicated Under Biden
Immigration rules for international students at U.S. colleges and universities have undergone multiple changes during the Trump administration. In his transition plan, President-elect Joe Biden proposes changing some of them to loosen visa restrictions.
Biden, projected as winner of the November 3 presidential election, does not specifically refer to undergraduate foreign students in his “Plan for Securing Our Values as a Nation of Immigrants,” at JoeBiden.com.
But he says he will increase the number of visas for “permanent, employment-based immigration — and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment.”
Foreign students identify barriers to permanent employment opportunities in the United States as a reason some do not pick America as an education destination, according to the Institute for International Education (IIE).
U.S. colleges and universities enrolled more than 1 million international students last year, but after decades of increase, enrollment has stalled in the past two years, IIE says.
Issuance of the F-1, or student visa, has decreased over the past four years, according to State Department data. In fiscal 2016, 502,214 F-1 visas were issued. In 2017, the number dropped to 421,008. In 2019, 388,839 F-1 visas were issued.
Student visas are issued by the State Department and administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
“Biden believes that foreign graduates of a U.S. doctoral program should be given a green card with their degree and that losing these highly trained workers to foreign economies is a disservice to our own economic competitiveness,” the president-elect's website says.
Most international students come to the U.S. on F-1 visas. After graduation, some apply for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows students to work in their major field of study for up to 12 months. Students with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) can extend their OPT for up to 24 months.
Students who want to remain in the U.S. and gain work experience, especially those in STEM fields, seek H-1B visas after OPT.
More than 30% of international students come from China and 20% from India. Those students typically pursue STEM degrees, according to IIE.
President Donald Trump made cases of theft of intellectual property by foreign students who worked for U.S. companies or federal agencies the foundation of his curbs on student immigration. The administration also cited espionage among international students and guest workers to justify limiting their access to the U.S.
International students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 458,290 jobs in the 2018-19 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Here is a history of student visa changes attempted and implemented under the Trump administration:
September 2020: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a rule limiting student visas to a fixed four-year term. To remain longer, international students would have to apply for an extension.
Also, students from a country with a visa overstay rate of 10% or a country on the U.S. State Department’s State Sponsor of Terrorism list would be limited to two years.
DHS accepted public feedback until October 26, and the rule remains under consideration.
July 2020: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a modification that would compel international students enrolled in online-only courses at U.S. universities and colleges to be on campus during a pandemic or risk deportation.
The modification was rescinded after Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued ICE with signatures of support from officials at more than 200 U.S. universities.
June 2020: The Trump administration issued an order suspending H-1B, J and other temporary work visas. The ban affected applicants and lasts until the end of this year.
May 2020: On May 29, Trump issued an executive order banning Chinese graduate students on an F or J visa and Chinese researchers from entering the U.S.
J visas holders are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange visitor programs in the U.S.
The White House issued numerous statements saying China has engaged in acquiring U.S. technology and intellectual property “in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military” and that some “Chinese postgraduate students and postdoctorate researchers operate as nontraditional collectors of intellectual property.” The order did not apply to Chinese undergraduate students or green card holders.
China has sent the largest number of international students to the U.S. for 10 consecutive years: 369,548 students in undergraduate, graduate, nondegree and OPT programs out of 1,095,299 in 2019, according to the Institute for International Education.
February 2020: The Trump administration issued a rule requiring international students to seek approval for staying during each stage of their studies in the U.S. The rule established a “maximum period of authorized stay” to reduce overstay rates and to lessen “confusion over how long they may lawfully remain in the United States.”
June 2019: International students created petitions or wrote letters citing long processing times for federal work authorization and asked their universities for assistance. Some students lost internships and money spent on housing and flights.
May 2019: DHS announced increases in fees charged to international students, exchange visitors and other schools.
For F and M international students — M visas allow internationals to participate in nonacademic or vocational studies — the I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $200 to $350. For J exchange visitors who are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange programs, the full I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $180 to $220.
For Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified schools — those that host F and M visa holders — the certification petition fee increased from $1,700 to $3,000.
May 2018: USCIS issued a memorandum changing how it calculates “unlawful presence” for nonimmigrants on F, J and M visas and their dependents. Graduates who overstay their visas could face up to a 10-year ban from the country under the policy.
The change is intended to “reduce the number of overstays” and “improve how USCIS implements the unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility,” USCIS stated.
USCIS published a revised policy memorandum after receiving feedback from the public.
January 2017: On January 27, Trump signed an executive order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.
This impacted immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holders from Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, including students. The list has since been amended and now applies to 13 countries.
The New York Times reported that an estimated 17,000 students in the United States were impacted by the ban, most of them from universities in the Northeast and California.
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Geopolitical tensions and growing competition in tech between the United States and China appear to be spilling over into academia despite commitments from the world’s two biggest economies to boost people-to-people exchanges.
The United States remains the top choice for Chinese students seeking to study abroad with nearly 300,000 studying in American colleges and universities during the 2022-2023 school year. But reports of some cases that students and professors are facing extra scrutiny while passing through immigration and the deportation of others are raising concerns.
For Chen Xiaojin, a doctoral student studying semiconductor materials at a university in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, it has been six years since she returned to her hometown of Beijing.
At first, it was the COVID-19 pandemic that kept her from going home. But over the past two years, she has been deterred by accounts of Chinese students majoring in science and engineering being required to reapply for their visas upon returning to China.
She also says she is worried by reports over the past six months of Chinese students being deported, even at nearby Dulles Airport.
"My current research is relatively sensitive, and my boss [adviser] is getting funds from the U.S. Department of Defense, making it even more sensitive,” she told VOA. "I am afraid that I won't be able to return after I go back [to China]."
Chen says that if she did return to China, she would have to apply for a new visa.
In a report late last month, Bloomberg said it had found at least 20 Chinese students and scholars with valid visas who were deported at U.S. Customs since November and barred from reentry. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency does not release relevant data.
Immigration attorney Dan Berger represented one Chinese student who was deported late last year. He tells VOA Mandarin that the student studied biological sciences at Yale University and was about to complete her doctorate.
She visited her family in China and got a new visa but was deported by customs at Dulles Airport and barred from reentering the country for five years. Berger said he did not see anything suspicious in the transcript of the conversation between the student and the customs officer.
"We have seen what seems like a pattern over the last six months of Chinese PhD students being turned around…. more than I've seen in quite a while," he said.
Matthew Brazil, a fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, said neither country seems willing to explain the situation. However, he believes that in most cases, the United States must have valid reasons for blocking visa holders from entering the country.
In some cases, the student’s background may not match what is written on the visa application. In other cases, customs agents may also find something that the State Department missed, and once they see it, they are responsible for taking action.
"I wish the Chinese side would be specific about their students who were refused entry,” he said. “The fact that both sides are mum on details and that the Chinese side is engaged with the usual angry rhetoric means that each has security concerns. And that says to me that there was good reason for the U.S. to stop these particular applicants."
Brazil also sees a connection between the entry denials and export control regulations issued by the United States in October 2022 that restrict China's ability to obtain advanced computing chips, develop and maintain supercomputers, and manufacture advanced semiconductors.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is one of the law enforcement agencies authorized to investigate violations of export control regulations, he said.
"Beijing's intelligence agencies are known to focus attention on PRC [People's Republic of China] students and scientists headed abroad who study or work on dual-use technologies controlled under the Export Administration Act — compelling Chinese students and scientists to report on what they've learned when they return to China on holiday,” he said. “This has been true for decades."
Bill Drexel, a fellow for the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, said the U.S. government did find some cases where students tried to steal strategic technology for China.
"I think it would both not be surprising that they found some really questionable or incriminating evidence for some students,” he said. “It would also not be surprising if, in their hunt for really solid evidence, they also may have made some mistakes on other students.”
Drexel adds that “it’s just kind of an unfortunate fact of the time that we live in and the tactics that the CCP uses when it comes to these measures."
In a post on X in early May, U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns tried to dispel concerns about visas and entry to the United States for students and scholars. In the post, he said "99.9% of Chinese students holding visas encounter no issues upon entering the United States.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Monday, Burns said it is China that is making it impossible to promote people-to-people ties. Burns told the Journal that students attending events sponsored by the United States in China have been interrogated and intimidated.
He also said that since U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping held their summit in San Francisco last year, China’s Ministry of State Security and other agencies had interfered with Chinese citizens’ participation at some 61 events.
At a regular briefing on Wednesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning dismissed those accusations, saying that they did not “reflect reality" and that went against key understandings reached by both countries’ presidents in San Francisco.
“The United States, under the pretext of 'national security,' unjustifiably harasses, interrogates, and deports Chinese students in the U.S., causing them significant harm and creating a severe chilling effect,” Mao said. “The image of the United States in the minds of the Chinese people fundamentally depends on the actions of the United States itself.”
Drexel said he believes Burns’ comments about visas and students' willingness to study in the U.S. still ring true.
“On balance, it's still the case that American universities are overwhelmingly warm towards Chinese students and want them in large numbers," he said.
However, Berger, the immigration lawyer, is concerned about the chilling effect recent cases involving Chinese students could have.
"In general, we are being more careful about advising Chinese graduate students in STEM fields about traveling and letting them know that there is some small risk,” he said.
Even though the risk is small, it does seem to be real at the moment, he said.
Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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