A new policy from Kirstjen Nielsen and the DHS may affect how long international students can stay in the country and a lot of people in higher ed are freaking out about it.
Campus Reform reports:
Harvard decries ‘destructive’ new Trump admin policyHarvard University signed a statement in late December denouncing U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M. Nielsen for a policy limiting the stay of international students in the country.The Ivy League school is the 65th school to sign an amicus brief supporting Guilford College in a lawsuit filed against Nielsen, according to The Harvard Crimson. Most of the schools belong to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.”The Department of Homeland Security’s (“DHS”) Policy Memorandum regarding the calculation of unlawful presence will have destructive and harmful consequences for international students and scholars, and the U.S. institutions with which they are associated, the brief states.U.S. immigration policies trigger an “unlawful presence” period for people who stay in the nation past their period of authorization. These individuals can be forced to go back to the country from which they came after six months of unlawful presence and receive a three-year ban from the country.Before August, the unlawful presence period only began after the government released a memo deeming the visa holder “out of status.” But the August policy change allows the Department of Homeland Security to set start dates for unlawful presence retroactively before releasing the determination and beginning the day following the individual’s completion of a degree or visa expiration.“Under the prior policy, when international students did become aware of a potential issue, they were able to make corrections and request reviews and adjustments, without fearing the accrual of unlawful presence,” the brief states. “The DHS’s new backdating rule will likely result in fewer international students, scholars, and instructors contributing to our communities.”
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