The government continues to use the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to further ban students, relatives, employees and asylees from legal status in the U.S. The restrictions, in combination with worldwide travel restrictions and the closures of U.S. embassies abroad for most visa appointments, are affecting millions around the world.
Here are some developments since April:
Students. On July 6 ICE/SEVP (the government) announced that students taking all online classes will not be permitted to remain in the U.S. or to enter the U.S.- even if their school is offering no in-person classes due to the pandemic. We are pleased to see widespread condemnation of this announcement. The new rule is a modification to the government’s March 2020 guidance allowing nonimmigrant F-1 students to take all classes online while the COVID-19 emergency lasts. SEVP posted FAQs on the changes.
Students already in the U.S. are allowed to transfer to other schools offering in-person classes, but this is hardly practical at this late date. Students may take one in-person course and the remaining classes online If their school offers both online and in-person classes (a “hybrid” model). English language and M-1 visa students are not allowed to take any online courses. In addition to the sudden burdens on students, SEVP also mandated additional bureaucratic requirements on schools and universities to be completed on short notice, including issuing updated I-20s for students by Aug. 4.
Harvard and MIT filed a lawsuit on July 8 to contest the new student restrictions; others including the University of California also plan to sue. The lawsuit lays out a strong case for the new rules to be enjoined or stopped. It points out that the government in March 2020 allowed students to take all online course in the spring and summer due to the pandemic, then changed this guidance with little – and late – notice. The universities spent many months planning for their fall terms, taking into account above all the health and safety of their staff and students, only to have these plans upended by the SEVP announcement.
Harvard and MIT explain the serious negative consequences to students in their filing:
The consequences of this sudden displacement are both financial and personal. In addition to incurring substantial expenses to make international travel arrangements in the midst of a pandemic that has significantly reduced the availability of air travel, as well as losing their homes—in many instances at great cost associated with broken leases—some students will be forced to upend their young children’s lives by returning to their home countries, while others’ families will be split apart in order to comply with the July 6 Directive.
DACA (good news!). The Supreme Court on June 18 ruled that the government’s attempt to end DACA was not valid. DACA is the program for Dreamers who arrived in the U.S. as children but have no legal status in the U.S. Chief Justice Roberts and four other justices decided the Trump administration had not followed all legal requirements when it tried to terminate DACA. In other words, DACA can be ended, but not in the way Trump did it. We don’t yet know if U.S. Immigration and Citizenship Services (USCIS) will accept new applications in addition to renewals from those previously granted DACA. We also don’t know if those with DACA will be able to apply for “advance parole” which would allow them to travel outside the U.S. and re-enter, which was barred while the case was pending.
Immigrant Visas (Green Cards). See our previous post explaining the April 2020 ban on foreign nationals entering the U.S. with immigrant visas, commonly called green cards. That ban applied to parents, siblings and children of US citizens, relatives of green card holders, and employment-based green card applicants outside the U.S. who do not fall into one of the exempted categories.
Note the exceptions to the government’s actions: spouses, fiances, and under-21 children of U.S. citizens; those who already have U.S. green cards, individuals whose entry would be in the national interest (as determined by the Secretaries of State and DHS, or their respective designees); and certain others.
Nonimmigrant Visas. The administration extended and added to the April restrictions on June 22. President Trump issued a Presidential Proclamation to stop embassies issuing nonimmigrant (temporary) visas through 12/31/2020 to applicants and dependents outside the U.S. in these categories: H-1B, L-1, J-1 (many but not all), and H-2B. Again, spouses and under-21 children of U.S. citizens are exempt, as are current green card holders.
Asylum. The government continues dismantling the asylum system. This has been an ongoing effort to eliminate this historically critical option for those facing persecution. New restrictions apply both to those appearing in court and before asylum officers.
Adjudicators are supposed to deny asylum to persons who:
- Traveled through at least two countries before arriving in the U.S., or stayed in another country for at least 14 days before arriving in the United States;
- Ever failed to pay taxes, paid taxes late, or failed to report any income to the IRS;
- Have been unlawfully present in the United States for at least one year.
Additional bars to asylum were announced in June. On July 8, 2020, the Trump Administration announced a proposed rule that would allow the Department of Homeland Security to ban people from seeking asylum in the United States solely because they traveled from or through a country under threat by a serious disease.
Options – what can you do if you’re affected by these restrictions? The government is still accepting applications for some of the above applicants, such as U.S. citizens filing green card petitions for parents and siblings. But if such applications work their way through the system, applicants will not be able to get visas abroad as long as the restrictions last. For those already in the U.S. it’s possible to extend or change their status, for example from F-1 student to B-2 visitor. Such applications must be filed while the person is in legal status. Such applications are likely to be difficult and you need to make a strong case for the new status.
Remember the best option for U.S. citizens: If you haven’t already registered to vote, register now! If you’ve registered, make sure you vote!
