Why Indian, other foreign students are being told to return to the US before Jan 20

With students at many colleges wrapping up final exams this week and preparing for their winter break, a number of schools in the United States, including Harvard University, University of Southern California and Cornell University, are advising their international students to return to campus before US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration takes place on January 20, 2025.Advisories issued to the students say this is to avoid potential travel bans and increased scrutiny at entry points. Students said the university authorities were concerned over Trump's threat during the election campaign of carrying out the largest deportation of illegal migrants in US history. While Indian students studying in the country have valid visas, it is best not to take chances, university administrations have said.During his last administration, Trump imposed restrictions on entry to the US from seven majority-Muslim countries, a policy that stranded thousands of students who were abroad at the time. Later in his term, Trump added more countries to the restricted travel list. And he has spoken of wanting to reimpose those restrictions once he is back in the White House.“A travel ban is likely to go into effect soon after inauguration,” Cornell’s Office of Global Learning warned students on its website late last month, advising them to be back in the US before the start of spring-semester classes on January 21. “The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. New countries could be added to this list, particularly China and India.” ShowQuotesColleges are also warning all students to prepare for possible delays at the border and in the processing of paperwork.“Budget time ahead of the semester start, prior to the January Martin Luther King holiday,” Harvard advised on its website for international students who have concerns.The University of Massachusetts Amherst, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and Wesleyan University have issued comparable advisories and guidance. The advice is precautionary in nature, since the policies of the new administration remain uncertain.Trump has said that he wanted to bring back or strengthen some of the travel restrictions he imposed in his first term.At an event in September with a Republican donor, Miriam Adelson, Trump said he would “seal our border and bring back the travel ban”, apparently referring to his restrictions on travel from some majority-Muslim countries. He also said that he would “ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip”.More than 1.1 million students from outside the United States were enrolled in American colleges and universities in the 2023-24 academic year, according to Open Doors, a data project partially funded by the US State Department.India was the most common place of origin for international students last year, followed by China; together, they accounted for more than half of all international students in the country. South Korea ranked third. !function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r Between 2023 and 2024, 3.3 lakh Indian students made it to US campuses compared to 2.7 lakh Chinese students.Uncertainty, stressSome institutions have even adjusted their academic calendars to ensure students returned well before the inauguration. A postgraduate student of data science at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, told TOI his classes typically begin a week after New Year. This time, however, the academic schedule starts on January 2."Our professors said it would be risky to come after the first weekend of January, even though the inauguration is on January 20. The stress is palpable," the 24-year-old student said.Yale University even conducted a separate session to address students' doubts. "This was only to avoid any potential issues at airports or in terms of flight bookings," a 22-year-old undergraduate student of microbial pathogenesis said.S Sarsan, a bachelor's student of economics at University of Massachusetts, shared he had originally booked his return tickets for January 10 but was forced to rework his plans. "Tickets right after the winter break are expensive. I paid almost Rs 35,000 more. Our professors shared that there may be higher scrutiny in terms of security, and they might also thoroughly check our documents. To avoid any such issues, it was better to enter the US well before the inauguration," he added.University of Massachusetts' office of global affairs cited previous experiences with travel bans during Trump's first administration in 2016 as a reason for issuing the advisory. "The advisory is being made out of an abundance of caution," the office stated on its website.Students from other universities, including University of Memphis and Wesleyan University, too reported receiving similar guidance.A professor from Wesleyan University told TOI on the condition of anonymity, "Even though our students are legally in the US, we do not want to invite trouble for them or the university. We do not know what could happen. It only makes sense to avoid getting into any trouble."Balaji K, provost of University of Memphis, addressed the anxiety among students about possible disruptions. "Students are definitely overwhelmed because of the uncertainty. They are concerned about the sudden changes in immigration policies that Trump may bring in. Like changes to Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, that allows students to work in the US after graduating. However, we are reassuring them that they have valid documentation and that the university will support them if issues arise," said Balaji.Inputs: Amisha Rajani (TNN) and Sharon Otterman (NYT)