White House Folds On Decision Barring Foreign Students From Online-Classes-Only This Fall

After facing a deluge of criticism, including lawsuits from several colleges, the Trump Administration has decided to rescind its decision to deny student visas to students who won’t be studying on campus full time in the fall, the AP reports.

The deal settles the lawsuits mentioned above, and was confirmed in a short hearing Tuesday afternoon, US District Judge Allison D. Burroughs confirmed.

“Both the policy directive and the frequently asked questions would not be enforced anyplace” under the resolution, Judge Allison Burroughs said, adding that the agreement applied nationwide.

As the Trump Administration pushes to force schools to hold on-campus classes in the fall, ICE issued regulations earlier this month limiting foreign students’ ability to take classes online and remain in the US if they won’t be attending classes in person.

The regulations upended students plans and made an already difficult environment for colleges. Harvard and MIT both said their institutions and their student bodies would suffer “irreparable injury.”

According to the statement from the court on the agreement, the deal will reinstate a policy from March that allowed international students more flexibility to take all their classes online and remain legally in the country with student visas.

Harvard and MIT said in a court filing Tuesday, before the hearing, that they and their students would face “irreparable injury” if an injunction wasn’t granted.

If it hadn’t been struck down, the original guidance would have forced foreign students to take at least one in-person class, or leave the country. Additionally, students who returned home when school was cancelled in March wouldn’t be allowed back in to the US.