Student Union
Student Visa Changes Indicated Under Biden
Immigration rules for international students at U.S. colleges and universities have undergone multiple changes during the Trump administration. In his transition plan, President-elect Joe Biden proposes changing some of them to loosen visa restrictions.
Biden, projected as winner of the November 3 presidential election, does not specifically refer to undergraduate foreign students in his “Plan for Securing Our Values as a Nation of Immigrants,” at JoeBiden.com.
But he says he will increase the number of visas for “permanent, employment-based immigration — and promote mechanisms to temporarily reduce the number of visas during times of high U.S. unemployment.”
Foreign students identify barriers to permanent employment opportunities in the United States as a reason some do not pick America as an education destination, according to the Institute for International Education (IIE).
U.S. colleges and universities enrolled more than 1 million international students last year, but after decades of increase, enrollment has stalled in the past two years, IIE says.
Issuance of the F-1, or student visa, has decreased over the past four years, according to State Department data. In fiscal 2016, 502,214 F-1 visas were issued. In 2017, the number dropped to 421,008. In 2019, 388,839 F-1 visas were issued.
Student visas are issued by the State Department and administered by the Department of Homeland Security.
“Biden believes that foreign graduates of a U.S. doctoral program should be given a green card with their degree and that losing these highly trained workers to foreign economies is a disservice to our own economic competitiveness,” the president-elect's website says.
Most international students come to the U.S. on F-1 visas. After graduation, some apply for the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, which allows students to work in their major field of study for up to 12 months. Students with degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) can extend their OPT for up to 24 months.
Students who want to remain in the U.S. and gain work experience, especially those in STEM fields, seek H-1B visas after OPT.
More than 30% of international students come from China and 20% from India. Those students typically pursue STEM degrees, according to IIE.
President Donald Trump made cases of theft of intellectual property by foreign students who worked for U.S. companies or federal agencies the foundation of his curbs on student immigration. The administration also cited espionage among international students and guest workers to justify limiting their access to the U.S.
International students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy and supported 458,290 jobs in the 2018-19 academic year, according to NAFSA: Association of International Educators.
Here is a history of student visa changes attempted and implemented under the Trump administration:
September 2020: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed a rule limiting student visas to a fixed four-year term. To remain longer, international students would have to apply for an extension.
Also, students from a country with a visa overstay rate of 10% or a country on the U.S. State Department’s State Sponsor of Terrorism list would be limited to two years.
DHS accepted public feedback until October 26, and the rule remains under consideration.
July 2020: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced a modification that would compel international students enrolled in online-only courses at U.S. universities and colleges to be on campus during a pandemic or risk deportation.
The modification was rescinded after Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology sued ICE with signatures of support from officials at more than 200 U.S. universities.
June 2020: The Trump administration issued an order suspending H-1B, J and other temporary work visas. The ban affected applicants and lasts until the end of this year.
May 2020: On May 29, Trump issued an executive order banning Chinese graduate students on an F or J visa and Chinese researchers from entering the U.S.
J visas holders are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange visitor programs in the U.S.
The White House issued numerous statements saying China has engaged in acquiring U.S. technology and intellectual property “in part to bolster the modernization and capability of its military” and that some “Chinese postgraduate students and postdoctorate researchers operate as nontraditional collectors of intellectual property.” The order did not apply to Chinese undergraduate students or green card holders.
China has sent the largest number of international students to the U.S. for 10 consecutive years: 369,548 students in undergraduate, graduate, nondegree and OPT programs out of 1,095,299 in 2019, according to the Institute for International Education.
February 2020: The Trump administration issued a rule requiring international students to seek approval for staying during each stage of their studies in the U.S. The rule established a “maximum period of authorized stay” to reduce overstay rates and to lessen “confusion over how long they may lawfully remain in the United States.”
June 2019: International students created petitions or wrote letters citing long processing times for federal work authorization and asked their universities for assistance. Some students lost internships and money spent on housing and flights.
May 2019: DHS announced increases in fees charged to international students, exchange visitors and other schools.
For F and M international students — M visas allow internationals to participate in nonacademic or vocational studies — the I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $200 to $350. For J exchange visitors who are allowed to participate in work-and-study exchange programs, the full I-901 SEVIS fee increased from $180 to $220.
For Student and Exchange Visitor Program-certified schools — those that host F and M visa holders — the certification petition fee increased from $1,700 to $3,000.
May 2018: USCIS issued a memorandum changing how it calculates “unlawful presence” for nonimmigrants on F, J and M visas and their dependents. Graduates who overstay their visas could face up to a 10-year ban from the country under the policy.
The change is intended to “reduce the number of overstays” and “improve how USCIS implements the unlawful presence ground of inadmissibility,” USCIS stated.
USCIS published a revised policy memorandum after receiving feedback from the public.
January 2017: On January 27, Trump signed an executive order banning foreign nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.
This impacted immigrant and nonimmigrant visa holders from Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen, including students. The list has since been amended and now applies to 13 countries.
The New York Times reported that an estimated 17,000 students in the United States were impacted by the ban, most of them from universities in the Northeast and California.
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College athletes push for voter turnout while largely avoiding controversy as election nears
Lily Meskers faced an unexpected choice in the lead-up to the first major election she can vote in.
The 19-year-old University of Montana sprinter was among college athletes in the state who received an inquiry from Montana Together asking if she was interested in a name, image and likeness deal to support Sen. Jon Tester, a three-term Democrat seeking re-election. The group, which is not affiliated with the Tester campaign, offered from $400 to $2,400 to athletes willing to produce video endorsements.
Meskers, who is from Colorado but registered to vote in Montana, decided against the deal because she disagrees with Tester's votes on legislation involving transgender athletes in sports.
"I was like, OK, I believe that this is a political move to try to gain back some voters that he might have lost," Meskers said. "And me being a female student-athlete myself, I was not going to give my endorsement to someone who I felt didn't have the same support for me."
Professional athletes such as LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and Stephen Curry have taken high-profile stances on hot-button topics and political campaigns in recent years, but college athletes are far less outspoken — even if money is available, according to experts in the NIL field. Being outwardly political can reflect on their school or endanger potential endorsement deals from brands that don't want controversy. It can certainly establish a public image for an athlete — for better or for worse — or lead to tensions with teammates and coaches who might not feel the same way.
There are examples of political activism by college athletes: A Texas Tech kicker revealed his support for former President Donald Trump on a shirt under his uniform at a game last week and a handful of Nebraska athletes a few days ago teamed up in a campaign ad against an abortion measure on the Tuesday's ballot.
Still, such steps are considered rare.
"It can be viewed as risky and there may be people telling them just don't even take that chance because they haven't made it yet," said Lauren Walsh, who started a sports branding agency 15 years ago. She said there is often too much to lose for themselves, their handlers and in some cases, their families.
"And these individuals still have to figure out what they're going to do with the rest of their lives, even those that do end up getting drafted," she added.
College coaches are not always as reticent. Auburn men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl has used social media to make it clear he does not support Kamala Harris, Trump's Democratic opponent in next week's presidential election. Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy once caused a stir with a star player for wearing a shirt promoting a far-right news outlet.
Blake Lawrence, co-founder of the NIL platform Opendorse, noted that this is the first presidential election in the NIL era, which began in July 2021. He said athletes are flocking to opportunities to help increase voter turnout in the 18-to-24 age demographic, adding that one of his company's partners has had 86 athletes post social media messages encouraging turnout through the first half of the week.
He said athletes are shying away from endorsing specific candidates or causes that are considered partisan.
"Student-athletes are, for the most part, still developing their confidence in endorsing any type of product or service," he said. "So if they are hesitant to put their weight behind supporting a local restaurant or an e-commerce product, then they are certainly going to be hesitant to use their social channels in a political way."
Giving athletes a voice
Many college athletes have opted to focus on drumming up turnout in a non-partisan manner or simply using their platforms to take stands that are not directly political in nature. Some of those efforts can be found in battleground states.
A progressive group called NextGen America said it had signed players in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Virginia to encourage voting among young people. Another organization, The Team, said it prepped 27 college athletes in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Arizona and Michigan to lead volunteer voter participation opportunities for students. The organization also said it got more than 625 coaches to sign a nonpartisan pledge to get their athletes registered to vote.
The Team's executive director is Joe Kennedy, a former coach who coordinated championship visits and other sporting events at the White House during President Barack Obama's administration. In early October, it hosted a Zoom event during which panelists such as NCAA President Charlie Baker and WNBA players Nneka Ogwumike and Natasha Cloud gave college athletes advice about using their platforms on campus.
In its early days, The Team seized upon momentum from the record turnout seen in the 2020 election. The NCAA that year said Division I athletes could have Election Day off from practice and play to vote. Lisa Kay Solomon, founder of the All Vote No Play campaign, said even if the athletes don't immediately take stands on controversial issues, it's important for them to learn how.
"It is a lot to ask our young people to feel capable and confident on skills they've never had a chance to practice," Solomon said. "We have to model what it means to practice taking risks, practice standing up for yourself, practice pausing to think about what are the values that you care about — not what social media is feeding into your brain, but what do you care about and how do you express that? And how do you do it in a way that honors the kind of future that you want to be a part of?"
Shut up and play?
Two years ago, Tennessee-Martin quarterback Dresser Winn said he would support a candidate in a local district attorney general race in what experts said was very likely the first political NIL deal by a college athlete.
There have been very few since.
The public criticism and fallout for athletes who speak out on politics or social issue can be sharp. Kaepernick, the Super Bowl-winning quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, hasn't played in an NFL game since January 2017, not long after he began kneeling during the national anthem at games.
Meskers, the Montana sprinter, said political endorsements through NIL deals could create problems for athletes and their schools.
"I just think that NIL is going to run into a lot of trouble and a lot of struggles if they continue to let athletes do political endorsements," she said. "I just think it's messy. But I stand by NIL as a whole. I think it's really hard as a student athlete to create a financial income and support yourself."
Walsh said it's easier for wealthy and veteran stars like James and Ogwumike to take stands. James, the Los Angeles Lakers star, started More Than a Vote — an organization with a mission to "educate, energize and protect Black voters" — in 2020. He has passed the leadership to Ogwumike, who just finished her 13th year in the WNBA and also is the president of the Women's National Basketball Players Association. More than a Vote is focused on women's rights and reproductive freedom this year.
"They have very established brands," Walsh said. "They know who they are and they know what their political stance is. They know that they have a really strong following that -- there's always going to be haters, but they're also always going to have that strong following of people who listen to everything that they have to say."
Andra Gillespie, an associate professor at Emory University who teaches African American politics, also said it is rare that a college athlete would make a significant impact with a political stand simply because they tend to have a more regional platform than national. Even celebrities like Taylor Swift and Eminem are better at increasing turnout than championing candidates.
"They are certainly very beneficial in helping to drive up turnout among their fans," Gillespie said. "The data is less conclusive about whether or not they're persuasive – are they the ones who are going to persuade you to vote for a particular candidate?"
Athletes as influencers
Still, campaigns know young voters are critical this election cycle, and athletes offer an effective and familiar voice to reach them.
Political and social topics are not often broached, but this week six Nebraska athletes — five softball players and a volleyball player — appeared in an ad paid for by the group Protect Women and Children involving two initiatives about abortion laws on Tuesday's ballot.
The female athletes backed Initiative 434, which would amend the state constitution to prohibit abortions after the first trimester, with exceptions. Star softball player Jordy Bahl said on social media that the athletes were not paid.
A University of Montana spokesperson said two athletes initially agreed to take part in the NIL deal backing Tester. The school said one withdrew and the other declined to be interviewed.
For Meskers, deciding against the offer boiled down to Tester twice voting against proposals to bar federal funds from going to schools that allow transgender athletes to play women's sports, a prominent GOP campaign topic. Tester's campaign said the proposals were amendments to government spending packages, and he didn't want to play a role in derailing them as government shutdowns loomed.
"As a former public school teacher and school board member, Jon Tester believes these decisions should be made at the local level," a Tester spokesperson said. "He has never voted to allow men to compete against women."
Meskers said she believes using influence as college athletes is good and she is in favor of NIL. She just doesn't think the two should mix specifically for supporting candidates.
"I think especially as student athletes, we do have such a big voice and we do have a platform to use," she said. "So I think if you're encouraging people to do their civic duties and get up and go (vote), I think that's a great thing."
