So much misinformation or... non information on this website surrounding international students and fall 2020. Let's make a couple of things clear. #highered

Normally, international students in F-1 status are required to take at least 9 credits of face to face courses. One 3 credit online course may count towards the full time enrollment requirement. #highered

Because of COVID-19, these requirements were temporarily waived by SEVP for the Spring and Summer semesters. SEVP is the agency (under ICE) that administers the F-1 student program. #highered

They have NOT released guidance for fall, which resulted in a lot of schools asking international students to just enroll in ordinary face to face courses when they are being offered, presumably to protect their immigration status should SEVP be inflexible in the fall. #highered

Obviously this is unfair and a huge public health disaster. There are over a million international students in the US. Some international students are stuck outside the country due to travel bans. Others are stuck inside the country. Some are immunocompromised. #highered

Faculty, please be aware- this is not a situation we signed up to be in. Nobody did. If online courses do not count to maintaining F-1 status, we would have to attend face to face courses putting you and us at risk because of immigration policy. #highered

We have some alternatives, but none of them are good. Leaving the country on an expired visa means international students have to get a new visa to enter, impossible under current circumstances because all the embassies are closed. #highered

Not being allowed to take online courses means we would have to depart the country if we're not able to meet our status requirements. That's a million international students from a country with one of the worst epidemics in the world flying internationally. #highered

There are travel bans in place worldwide. Some people aren't residents in the countries they're citizens of. Yet others have aged out of being on dependent visas in the US and rely on their student status to keep them with their families. #highered

We aren't domestic students, so we pay full tuition. In spite of this, we have little to no lobbying power. We're not citizens. What can you do? You can put pressure on your administration to lobby for us. Please do. We're immigrants and uniquely at risk. Thank you.

PS: the EVP, which administers the J-1 exchange program under the Department of State, recently announced its intention to allow continuing visitors to take coursework and complete their programs online. This is promising news.

Just tagging people that I believe may have some interest in this thread from what I've seen around here, sorry if a bit random but I'm trying to draw attention to this situation. @cant_b @karinfischer @BrandonSMcLeod