The Trump administration has backtracked on the announcement, saying "foreign students must leave the United States if they take classes online in the autumn semester because of the coronavirus." As a result, foreign students attending online classes no longer have to leave the United States.
A judge at the federal court in Boston confirmed the information on Tuesday (July 14), according to a CNN report. A reliable source told CNN that the White House had decided to withdraw from the announcement, citing "negative effects."
On July 7, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that foreign students at universities whose classes would be completely online due to the coronavirus pandemic would have to leave the United States or change educational institutions. Visas will not be issued to any new student admitted to an educational institution where online class-examination is underway. Universities that go online as well as physically attending campus in a ‘mixed manner’ will be banned from online classes. They will be expelled from the United States.
Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Boston challenging the Trump administration's decision. The governors of 16 states then filed lawsuits against the decision. As a result, the Trump administration withdrew from the announcement a week later.
Students living in the United States expressed frustration and concern shortly after the announcement that ‘online classes require foreign students to leave the United States.’ Now the decision will bring relief to the more than 10 lakh foreign students.