[smnrchrds]

> Nonimmigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States ... Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures ...

This is going to ruin so many lives. An example of how this could result is significant hardship for international students is the case of Iranian students.

Iran has mandatory military service for all male citizens ages 18 and over. People who are students can defer their military service until their studies have concluded. If the studies are outside of Iran, the temporary exemption from military service for the purpose of education status allows students to be present in Iran for a maximum of 3 months per year (approximate length of the summer intermission, so students can have some vacation and visit their family). Stays longer than that are deemed to be at odds with being an active student in a foreign institution, so if a student is present in Iran for longer than that, they are deemed to no longer be a student—the exemption is invalidated and the person has to go through two years of military service before they are allowed to leave the country again.

Any male Iranian student who is forced to leave the US due to this directive is effectively expelled from their program. I am sure this is not a unique situation. There are likely many other such edge cases that affect certain demographics of students. I hope they reverse their decision, otherwise so many careers will end before they even begin.

[cm2187]

I am not going to defend the Iranian regime or military services in general, which I think is a waste of time for all parties. But is it the role of the US immigration regime to circumvent military duties in foreign countries?

[smnrchrds]

My point was that there are likely hundreds of edge cases that ICE did not think about (or care about) when they decided to change the rules. When you create rules carelessly, people fall through the cracks. ICE has now created a massive crack many will likely fall through.

Military service is just one of such cracks, there are likely many many more. Just imagine how many people are likely to lose their scholarships (that is their only way to pay for the program they are in) because this ruling triggers a clause in the scholarship terms, how many mature students with families now have to take their children out of school and out of country for who knows how long and what the effect of this on those children is going to be, ...

[pandaman]

Have the rules been changed though? These on-line education restrictions (known as "Full course of study") had been in the law for a while, see 8 CFR 214.2(f)(6)(G) [1]. What ICE has done is a temporary suspension of enforcement. Now they just resume normal operation. You could argue they had to suspend it for longer but accusing them of changing rules seems bizarre as what you actually want is for them to change rules (because current rules say that F-1 students cannot do full-time on-line classes).

For F-1 students enrolled in classes for credit or classroom hours, no more than the equivalent of one class or three credits per session, term, semester, trimester, or quarter may be counted toward the full course of study requirement if the class is taken on-line or through distance education and does not require the student's physical attendance for classes, examination or other purposes integral to completion of the class. An on-line or distance education course is a course that is offered principally through the use of television, audio, or computer transmission including open broadcast, closed circuit, cable, microwave, or satellite, audio conferencing, or computer conferencing. If the F-1 student's course of study is in a language study program, no on-line or distance education classes may be considered to count toward a student's full course of study requirement.

1. https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/8/214.2

[copperx]

That is true. But the difference is that students used to have a choice (online vs in person classes), and now most don't.

To be honest, there is no purpose for most students to be in the US if they're taking online classes. But there are a lot of edge cases (e.g., students doing research in the lab, graduate students with a research stipend, students in economical hardship with a part time job, etc.) I wonder whether there will be exceptions for them.

[sukilot]

Classes are the smallest part of college.

[sukilot]

Why would someone lose a scholarship for attending their online-only school?

[aaomidi]

This isn't even related to the military service. This is related to making a promise to someone when giving them a VISA and then breaking that promise for no good reason.

There is literally no reason for ICE to be doing this.

[Simulacra]

I think one is not the same as the other. The intention is to get an education, the benefit is avoiding Iranian military service. That analysis has no basis in federal law, so no, it’s not the governments responsibility.

[aaomidi]

I feel so bad for my Iranian brothers and sisters :(.

The IRR keeps losing more and more value, which means if they were getting help from home it keeps getting more and more expensive to be able to afford to live here.

And then on top of that they have to worry about piece of shits running this country that give no regard to their lives.

[foolfoolz]

the u. s. is not the only country in the world

[aaomidi]

Do you understand the amount of money spent to be able to immigrate to a country? Or to be able to pick a country to do your studies in?

It literally sucks life savings of families.