Officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) are trying to pitch a proposal under which foreign students will be required to reapply for permission to stay in the US every year, The Washington Post reported.
If approved, foreign students will be forced to deal with an additional layer of paperwork, not to mention the higher costs. An estimated 1,66,000 Indian students were enrolled in US colleges in 2016, data from the Institute of International Education states.
Currently, students enter the US on F1 visas and can stay in the country as long as they have a valid I-20 document issued by the university – with full details of the course. When students change institutions, they can simply get a fresh I-20 document, issued by the new institution, and notify the DHS.
But if the new proposal is implemented, the visas will have definite end-dates, which will require students to reapply for visas to be able to stay in the country. Moreover, with every overtime re-application, the student will have to pay $200 as service charge.
Foreign students in the US add over $35 billion to the country’s economy, The Washington Post reported, quoting a 2015 report by New York-based non-profit, Institute of International Education. The report also states that around 2.8 percent of the 1.4 million foreign students overstayed their visas in 2016.
DHS spokesman David Lapan hasn’t commented on the matter yet, but officials expect resistance from university officials because if implemented, the move will cost the institutions.
Pedro Ribeiro, a spokesman for the Association of American Universities, termed the policy as “both a policy and logistical nightmare.”
US universities have registered a sharp decline in the number of applications from Indian students after a spate of hate crimes and anxiety about potential changes to visa policies by the Donald Trump administration.
According to the preliminary results of a survey, of more than 250 American colleges and universities conducted by six top American higher education groups, there was a 26 percent decline in undergraduate applications and a 15 percent decline in graduate applications from Indian students for the fall intake.
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