JOIN USH-1B Visa Proclamation: Relief, uncertainty plague Indian students in US
With the Trump administration rescinding its international student visa policy, Indian students have heaved a sigh of relief.
The decision to take a U-turn on the new policy that stated that international students who don’t attend at least one in-person course in the fall semester will be deported is being seen as a big win for the student community and universities.
“All the international students were very happy when this new policy was rejected. In these troubling times when we are already struggling and coping with a pandemic so far away from home, it becomes very stressful when the president of a first world country outright rejects your existence. He, without a thought, was ready to push us out of the States back to our own countries putting our future and health at risk,” says Ananya Ghosh, a graduate student from the University of Kansas Medical Centre.
Ghosh hadn’t told her parents about the new policy until she received some reassurance from her university. “Despite that, I think they were pretty stressed once they found out about the new policies that the Trump government was planning to implement. Now that the policy has been scrapped, they are fine,” she added.
Abhivineet Veerghanta, a student of the University of Southern California, expressed his concerns of staying in a foreign country in such troubled times and said, “Staying in a foreign country in times like these, you never know what's going to happen next. Currently I feel reassured but then the unpredictability of this situation overpowers my sense of security.”
University of Southern California (USC) was one of the several universities among Harvard and Massachusetts Institute of Technology that filed a lawsuit against the directive. Veerghanta says, “I was pretty sure that this was bound to happen considering the stature of these educational giants. But nonetheless, it was a relief to see whatever logic they used to get that decision, they valued human compassion more and decided to revoke it!”
Despite the relief that was felt by all the international students, some are still wary of the situation.
A student at the University of Buffalo, Maitri Parsana said, “I was actually really confused with the whole situation, but I wouldn’t get that excited just yet.” For the fall semester, Parsana’s course was a mixture of in-person and online classes. All classes after Thanksgiving, an American holiday, were scheduled to be held remotely. With the policy being revoked, Parsana says she will be able to stay even after Thanksgiving.
Similarly, Keshvi Patel of California State Polytechnic University, says she was relieved when she heard the news. She had signed numerous petitions by students that urged the Trump administration to revoke the ban. “I would say this is a win, for sure. Our voice is incredibly powerful and that should never be forgotten. We’ve fought against this anti-immigrant sentiment, she said.
When the directive was first issued, Patel was worried that she would have to transfer to a school that had a hybrid structure. She expressed her doubt saying, “I am definitely not fully reassured but I feel like we are getting there. There are still a lot of questions, and I feel like our universities are trying its best to help.”
Another student from USC said that he wasn’t affected by the policy as his department was going to conduct hybrid classes during the fall semester. “When I read that the policy got revoked, I felt relieved for other international students across the US. It is good that the government revoked it, said Prashil Panchal, who is finishing his masters in Pharmaceutical Sciences.
“When the guideline came, a lot of my friends, since they had no in-person classes, got freaked out until the university made a decision that they will give hybrid class credits for no additional cost,” he said.
Commenting on the Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidelines of July 6, he said, “The idea of having it in the first place itself makes Trump look stupid. It’s a huge win for the universities who filed the petition against him.”