By Kritika Agarwal
Last week, AAU submitted a comment letter urging the Department of Homeland Security to withdraw a proposed rule that would make it harder for international students to complete their degree programs in the United States, obtain practical work experience upon graduation, or to transfer to another program or degree level.
Currently, international students on F visas and international scholars on J visas enter the country for a flexible period of time known as “duration of status” (D/S). Students and scholars are allowed to remain in the country as long as they adhere to the requirements of their visa and make normal progress toward completing their degrees (as determined by school officials) or engage, post-completion, in an authorized practical training program.
DHS’s proposed rule would require every student on a visa who takes longer than the end date of their program or four years, whichever is shortest, to complete a degree program, or who wants to move from an undergraduate to a graduate degree program, to apply for an extension of stay with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). AAU argued that the rule “would create confusion for both international students and universities” and “hamper our nation’s ability to attract and retain talent that is vital to our workforce and higher education system.”
AAU’s letter argued that:
- The proposal imposes an unreasonable timeline on international students for completing their academic and exchange programs. For example, the median time for doctoral students to complete their programs is 5.7 years. DHS’s proposal would require nearly all international doctoral students to apply for an extension of stay with USCIS at least once during their degree programs.
- The extension-of-stay process proposed by DHS would create significant new workload for USCIS officers, who will be required to assess whether a student is making progress in their studies and needs more time to finish. USCIS officers lack the academic expertise to make such decisions, which would be final and unappealable. The process DHS has proposed would create significant uncertainties for students, who could be denied an extension-of-stay and would, therefore, have to abandon their studies.
- The proposal would make the United States a less attractive higher education destination by limiting the ability of international students to change their educational objectives, transfer between institutions, and pursue further studies. These changes represent an intrusion in the essential relationship between students and their academic institutions.
- The proposal would negatively impact U.S. competitiveness, including our advantage in attracting, developing, and retaining top talent from around the world.
- Sensible and less burdensome alternatives already exist that would better achieve DHS’s goals of eliminating fraud and abuse and addressing national security concerns. International students are already the most closely tracked and monitored visa holders in the United States, and DHS should add efficiencies to existing tools instead of creating new requirements.
- The proposal would have an especially detrimental effect on graduate education and our nation’s scientific research enterprise. By requiring students to apply for an extension of stay if they wish to move on to a higher degree level, the proposal will disrupt the undergraduate-to-PhD pipeline and hamper students’ ability to pursue postdoctoral opportunities.
“As other nations aggressively expand their international recruitment and retention policies aimed at international students, it would be self-defeating to implement policies that push talented individuals from around the world away from the United States,” AAU’s comment letter concluded.
Kritika Agarwal is assistant vice president for communications at AAU.