(DALLAS) — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has announced plans to modify the regulations for online courses permitted under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP). Early information suggests that the modifications, as announced, will affect our international students with F-1 and M-1 visas who plan to start or continue study at Dallas College in the fall semester. Please read the statement from Dallas College below, and for further information, resources and contacts, please refer to International Student Admissions at Dallas College.
To our Dallas College students and employees:
On July 6, 2020, Dallas College received guidance from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) regarding fall enrollment for non-immigrant foreign students pursuing higher education in the United States under F-1 and M-1 student visas.
The advisory states that visas will no longer be issued to students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester, nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States. The move further requires some foreign students to either transfer to a school that will provide in-person instruction or leave the country.
Most courses at Dallas College are planned to be online in the fall, so we are fully aware of the hardship this would place on foreign students to either transfer at such a late date or to leave the United States. We want the campus community to know that Dallas College is immediately working to identify the student population that is impacted. Furthermore, Dallas College is reviewing courses and career paths that are potentially affected so that instructional plans are modified to incorporate hybrid or face-to-face class options where needed. The goal is to ensure that affected students can remain in status at Dallas College. We will share these options as soon as they are made available. Further information about the new federal rules is available in the
ICE announcement.
Dallas College is disheartened by this one-size-fits-all approach as we deal with the ever-shifting challenge of giving all our students the best and safest instructional options during an unprecedented pandemic. Considering that few of the affected students have the real option of leaving the country to pursue online education under current travel restrictions abroad — or when their home country or family situations might lack the infrastructure to connect to U.S. colleges and universities online in a workable way — the move is disruptive, at best. Additionally, the option of requiring affected students to abruptly transfer to in-person, room-and-board schools that may be unaffordable to them and their families only creates an additional hardship.
Please stay tuned for an update as we work through what the change in rules means for our affected international students, and as we determine how we will respond in a way that minimizes disruption for the international student population at Dallas College.