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Culture April 13, 2020
International students are caught between a rock and a hard place because of COVID-19.
There is an overlooked group of college students in the United States that had to face the challenging question of, “should I stay or should I go?” along with the rest of the country. I am, of course, talking about international students. However, if they want to go back home, there is the ramification of not being able to come back into the U.S.
The U.S. government still hasn’t made any statements regarding the struggles of international students. The only announcement that has been made is that international students are now allowed to take online classes. The switch to online courses created controversy for a short period of time since under normal circumstances international students must take on-campus courses. However, the lack of statements from the government wasn’t unexpected. The government put the priority rightfully to save its citizens’ lives.
Still, this uncontrollable situation created unbearable problems for America’s 1.1 million foreign students. As of 2019, international students make up 5.5 percent of the total undergraduate student body in the U.S. However, American colleges receive 28 percent of their tuition revenue from just that 5.5 percent since international students have to pay full tuition and international fees.
So, what are the challenges the international students face after spending all this money and traveling thousands of miles to excel in their fields? And, what are the challenges waiting for the American economy if the foreign student body was to go extinct?
When most college students asked themselves whether or not they should go back to their homes last month, the answer was an obvious, “yes.”
But, for most international students, going home meant not only risking their health by traveling for long hours, but also giving up their career aspirations. Students were unsure if they would be able to return to their home countries not only because of safety or financial reasons, but also because of visa regulations.
One of the laws regarding the absence of international students is the “five-month-rule.” It states that international students cannot be away from their American schools for longer than five months. Since some schools urged their students not to come back to campus after spring break, some foreign students don’t know when they will be back. Additionally, the U.S. also stated that it’s suspending visa services worldwide, leaving students abroad without a place to turn.
Moreover, these students are aware that staying alone in the U.S. during a global pandemic would only be worth it if they can apply to their OPTs and get a job. And, to America’s foreign students, currently, these options don’t sound very promising.
All international students in their senior year who wish to work in the U.S. do so by applying to their OPT permits to be eligible to work in their own field of study for a year after graduation. This means that international students are not allowed to apply to whatever jobs they qualify for; their visa only allows them to get the specific jobs they were trained for.
However, this application may only be completed from within the U.S. and, many international students are currently stuck in their home countries due to lockdowns, travel bans, and a limited number of flights available. Currently, the latest update states that the OPT application still requires the applicants to be in the US.
Moreover, international students who are on their OPTs have up to 90 days of unemployment grace period to search for employment. Otherwise, they overstay their permit and will have to leave the country. However, many companies are canceling their summer internship programs. Many others are freezing their hiring processes since there is a great number of furloughs and layoffs already.
Some students, who wish to keep working in the US after their OPT work authorization expires, need a company’s sponsorship to file an application for a work visa to extend their work permit. And, they do so while their visas are still valid.
However, finding employment for someone who may need sponsorship in the future has been harder than ever. Asking if a person requires “sponsorship now or in the future” has become a routine question of the hiring process for most companies, including Buzzfeed.
Even before the pandemic, some prestigious companies such as Amazon started asking in the hiring questionnaires if the applicant is a green card holder or a citizen, those two being the only two options, dismissing valid work visas. This means that an immigrant can’t work at Amazon Studios until he gets a green card, regardless of his current work visa.
Or, companies such as the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) openly state that they don’t sponsor visas for entry-level positions. However, entry-level positions are what almost all students qualify for. Under these circumstances, after graduation, an international student won’t be able to work at CAA until she is qualified enough for a senior position, for which she may need sponsorship in the first place.
However, these companies may not be putting out these statements out of spite or blatant discrimination. Sponsorship is a costly and lengthy process, and it keeps getting longer. Thus, slowly, fewer and fewer companies are able to deal with it, even though they are aware that it means losing valuable employees.
On the other side of the coin, universities will see a decrease in international student enrollment as a result of closed embassies, financial restrictions, and travel bans, among other reasons. For the large number of universities that depend on their international students to pay full tuition, this could have serious economic ramifications in the coming years.
Some schools such as the University of California announced that it will be lowering its admission standards. However, it would be naive to think that this is only due to these schools feeling sorry for their incoming students.
Unfortunately, these institutions are also struggling to keep their businesses alive. Without international students paying international student fees, which differ greatly from what domestic students have to pay for their education, these schools will have a tough time finding students who are able to pay full tuition.
Similarly, in the U.K., experts have warned that even in the best-case scenario, where international student numbers only drop by 20 percent, British universities will be facing a serious problem: going out of business.
And, in the worst-case scenario, where the schools are hit with an 80 percent drop, “universities (will be) ferociously competing to attract UK students to plug a gap which could be the difference between being viable and going bust.” These numbers are expected to be very similar in the U.S.
Countries such as Australia took a different approach than the U.S., regarding how they treat their international students. Rather than staying silent, on April 3rd, the Australian Prime Minister said in a press conference that:
“They (international students) are obviously not held here compulsorily. If they’re not in a position to support themselves, then there is the alternative for them to return to their home countries. All students who come to Australia…have to give a warranty that they are able to support themselves…That is not an unreasonable expectation of the government, that students would be able to fulfill the commitment that they gave.”
Before coming to the U.S., international students have to prove that they have enough funds to support themselves and to pay full tuition. Is the U.S. going to take the same approach as Australia? Or, is the American government going to support its international students who have to go through financial and emotional hardships at such young ages to excel in their fields? At this time, we can only hope for the best.
Update (4/15): According to an article published by Narcity, Ontario Universities are offering emergency funds for both domestic and international undergraduate students.
