Online courses: Donald Trump rescinds foreign students order, drops new visa rules objected by top universities
Washington: Giving relief to students, President Donald Trump-led administration has rescinded its policy that would bar international students who only take online courses from staying in the US, media reports said.
The decision was announced on Tuesday by a federal court, nearly a week after the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that students at schools offering only online courses due to the coronavirus pandemic would need to either leave the US or transfer schools.
The change in the decision taken by the Department of Homeland Security came during the time of hearing at a federal district court about a lawsuit filed by Harvard University and MIT seeking a temporary injunction of the new guidelines.
One person familiar with the matter told CNN the White House has felt the blowback to the proposal and that some inside the West Wing believe it was poorly conceived and executed.
According to another source, the White House is now focused on having the rule apply only to new students, rather than students already in the US. The White House declined to comment on an ongoing policy process, reports CNN.
According to US District Judge Allison Burroughs, the administration will return to the policy that was in effect in March, which provided more flexibility for students enrolled in schools that switched to all-online courses because of the pandemic, reported the American news channel.
The announcement gave relief to more than 1 million international students, including Indians, currently present in the US.
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