Policy changes from the Department of Homeland Security will soon have impacts on Goshen College’s international student population. As of last school year, GC’s student body was made up of 11% international students In order to study in the United States, these students were required to apply for and receive an F-1 visa, more commonly known as a student visa. On Sept. 15, these policy changes to these F-1 visas will be enacted, creating uncertainty for the future of the GC international student population.

 Currently, students on F-1 visas have what is called “duration of status,” meaning they have an unspecified amount of time to earn their degree. While the default duration is four years, the time can easily be extended by a school’s designated official. 

At GC, the designated school official is Steve Wolma, the vice president for enrollment management. He said that the current process is mostly in the hands of the school, since they can extend programs as the students need.

However, by next Tuesday, this duration of status classification will no longer be offered. Instead, students will have four years to complete their programs. Any extensions must be approved both by the school and by the United States Citizen and Immigration Service. 

“In this moment, it’s unclear what the criteria will be for whether USCIS will grant an extension of stay or not,” Wolma said. “There’s been a lot of rumors and thoughts, but I don’t have anything I can say with any kind of certainty … it’s been challenging trying to advise international students right now.”

This lack of clarity is Wolma’s current worry with the change in policy. “It will be more difficult for international students to graduate if they can’t do it within four years, if they run into any problem at all,” he said. “We don’t know what USCIS is going to do.” 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, USCIS will review a student’s application to ensure they are eligible for an extension of stay, and comply with the terms of their admission, by conducting background checks and reviewing provided evidence. 

Nowhere on their website does it state what they are looking for as they conduct their review.

While this rule will only affect students who enter the U.S. after Tuesday, it could still have large implications for current GC students. “It’s the re-enter to the US that triggers the converting of their visa to that fixed admission period,” Wolma said. 

“If a current student leaves, then when they return to the U.S. … they will be converted to a fixed admissions period,” he said. This includes returning home to visit family, leaving over a break or going on Study-Service Term.

While GC still has quite a few international students, the current class of first-years has less than had been expected. “We’re still welcoming a lot of international students, which we like to do and want to do,” Wolma said. “But there were some more challenges, and we didn’t have the same number that we have had in the past.”

Wolma predicted that while U.S. universities are still considered the best in the world, with some exceptions, international students may start going elsewhere. “If they keep getting denied visas or if they run into all of these extra problems with being able to finish their degrees, I think it will have a chilling effect,” he said.

These changes affect every international student, not just on campus, but throughout the country. While these students will still be able to study at universities across the U.S., they will not be afforded the same flexibility that local students have and that international students have had in the past.