Don't know if you saw this one - re: Students with visas being told to leave US

[FirstLight]

Link to tweet

?s=20


The whole idea is to get the Universities to re-open, and force the revenue, thereby causing a spike in cases yet again...

[leftieNanner]

1. Cal students have the clever idea

To create a one unit in-person class for foreign students. They got a professor to sign on (I don't know what department) and the class is one person at a time - so no danger of any virus transmission!

My Alma Mater! I hope lots of schools do this.

[FirstLight]

4. I saw that too!!! my hometown ;)

well, Oakland...but still!

My daughter is supposed to transfer to UCB next fall...

[blm]

2. Berkeley students developing syllabus for 1unit, in-person class

for international students. Faculty sponsor signed on. Brilliant.

[intrepidity]

6. Seems like the best approach nt

[Bayard]

3. Ridiculous

Any excuse for hatred and racism to come forward. Wonder who made this decision?

[intrepidity]

5. Trying to understand

Is this a rule that existed before that is just now being exploited, or have they added this stipulation?

[FirstLight]

7. Pretty sure it is new, due to the Covid pandemic...

Just a way of either forcing the re-opening of universities (and probably public schools too) AND the bonus is deporting all NON Americans...

[intrepidity]

8. That's pretty low, if true

(which is par for the course)

OTOH, I could imagine that visas aren't awarded to people enrolling in online-only education, so it may well be already written into the rules, and they 'neglected' to rewrite the rules to accommodate the current circumstances.

[FirstLight]

9. good point, will have to research this deeper this afternoon! n/t

[Igel]

10. No, it's not new.

It's old.

If you were a student on leave of absence for doing research you could run afoul of the visa requirements.

There was a sting a couple of years ago where foreign students in the US were transferring to a "college" that had no physical classrooms. The students have no reason to be in the US if they're not physically required to be on a campus; if they have no reason to be in the US, there's no reason for the student visa. Student visas are there to serve a need, pure and simple, and that need is for the student to be in the classroom. Not a general need for people that aren't US citizens to have a reason to be in the US.

What's new is the scope of application. It used to be that if you were a student here on a student visa to attend school, classes were held. If a college goes all online, suddenly a lot more people are affected.

It's also not just a US thing. You want to go to another country to study, by and large you need to have a sponsor that says there's a need to be there. If I wanted to study in Ukraine, I'd get a visa. This year they moved their Russian courses online. I wouldn't be able to apply for a visa because there are no grounds for issuing it. (Yes, the argument could be made that being immersed in the language/culture is important. But that's not how the laws and regulations are written for any country I've visited.)

[FirstLight]

11. wow...ok...but shouldn't there be an EXEMPTION because of a pandemic then?

It seems like a messed up time to be enforcing this...