THE US yesterday said it will not allow foreign students to remain in the country if all of their classes are moved online in the fall because of the coronavirus crisis.

“Non-immigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the US,” said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a statement.

“Active students currently in the US enrolled in such programmes must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status.

“If not, they may face immigration consequences, including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings.”

It said the State Department “will not issue visas to students enrolled in schools and/or programmes that are fully online for the fall semester, nor will US Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the US”.

F-1 students pursue academic coursework, and M-1 students, “vocational coursework”, according to ICE.

Most US colleges and universities have not yet announced their plans for the fall semester.

A number of schools are looking at a hybrid model of in-person and online instruction, but some, including Harvard University, have said all classes will be conducted online.

Harvard said 40% of undergraduates will be allowed to return to campus, but their instruction will be online.

There were more than a million international students in the US for the 2018-19 academic year, according to the Institute of International Education.

That accounted for 5.5% of the total US higher education population, it said, and international students contributed US$44.7 billion (RM191 billion) to the American economy in 2018.

The largest number of international students came from China, followed by India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada. – AFP, July 7, 2020.