After the government He has finished his legal status In the United States, one student suddenly lost his laboratory work in Houston and feared detention, he returned to his home country in South Asia on a one-way ticket.
Later the Trump administration Reverse course The vast crackdown on international students was a major obstacle. Students are unable to return as his American visa has been revoked.
Without it, he would be “stuck,” the student said.
As the government begins to recover student records, many face difficult and complicated paths to rebuild their lives. For those who left, there is no guarantee that they will be able to return. Others face challenges re-enrolling at school and returning to work.
The mental anguish from their ordeal, as well as feelings of vulnerability. There are immigration and customs enforcement agencies Expanded basis for ending student legal statusleaving many people in fear that they could be targeted again.
A total of more than 4,700 international students had given permission to study in the United States this spring, with few notifications or explanations. At a court hearing, Homeland Security officials said they had executed student visa holder names through an FBI-run database that includes the names of suspects and those arrested, even if they were not accused of the crime.
Last week, at a court hearing in Oakland, California, the lawyers for international students sought a national injunction that said they would protect clients and others around the country.
However, government lawyers said it was not necessary as ICE had mailed letters of status revitalization. Affected students. It could take two weeks for all students to receive their letters, which can be shared with the university and employers, U.S. Attorney Aide Elizabeth Klan said.
The plaintiff’s lawyers say the letter is meaningless and argue that ICE’s new policy suggests that students’ records can be terminated on a whim. There is also no evidence that ICE asked the State Department to restore the revoked visa, the plaintiff’s lawyer said.
A student who left is waiting for another US visa for a long time
The Houston man left within about a week of learning that his legal status had ended. Around that time he also received an email saying that the visa he used to enter the United States had been revoked. He believes his firing stems from a 2021 fraud case in which he was denied.
For nearly a decade he built his life in the United States and was registered as an “optional practical training.” In his home country, he is now looking for a job and lives with his mother.
The wait time for US visa interviews is at least one year, he said.
Even if he gets another visa, it will be complicated to return due to his financial situation. He has a car loan and credit card in the US and cannot afford to pay after losing his job, and his credit score has declined, he said.
“Revoking a visa or revoking a Sevis status will not only affect the educational aspects of things, but it will affect your lifetime,” said a student who has suffered from loneliness and sadness over his father’s recent death.
Sevis is a student and exchange visitor information systems database that tracks international students’ compliance with Visa status.
Students who left the country may not know their rights or have the resources to hire lawyers, said immigration lawyer Ben Roveman. They will have a hard time recovering now, he said.
“We had great results,” Loveman said.
Some students see new risks for studying in the US
For a Nepali programmer in Texas who ended his status, the ordeal brought mistakes he thought he had left in the past.
The programmer, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear and retaliation, was arrested four years ago for drunk driving. He said he would take responsibility for his actions, carry out community service hours, provide probation and pay fines. The judge told him that the records could be sealed two years later, but the case appears to explain why he was targeted by immigration authorities.
“I followed everything,” he said. “If they take it all, at least give me the right process.”
His status was then restored, and programmers participating in the OPT program returned to his job. However, the episode has not disappeared from his heart.
If the right opportunity appears in another country like New Zealand or Canada, he says he will take it and leave.
An Iowa State student demanded anonymity over concerns about being targeted and said he was looking for an option to leave the US after he described it as “dark times.”
The PhD student said his status termination pushed him to a mental breakpoint. He had booked in Bangladesh and had a plane ticket home. He barely left his apartment and when he did, he felt he was being chased.
He attributed his dismissal to pending charges against him for possession of marijuana, but said he had not been found guilty.
After recovering his status, he resumed his lost teaching assistant job. He then had to keep up with scoring almost three weeks of assignments for dozens of students.
He is relieved to return to school, but he is confident in his decision to leave for either home or Europe by the end of the year. A degree is not worth the risk of another status termination, he said.
“How much should I suffer to continue here?” he said.
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