New Delhi: The US is not going to allow any new international students from entering the country if their courses in the upcoming semester are entirely online. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)  has issued a new directive that says that students with F and M visas cannot enter the country if their courses are 100 percent online. The official statement by the ICE says ‘F and M students in new or initial status after March 9, 2020, will not be able to enter the United States to enroll in a US school as a nonimmigrant student for the fall term to pursue a full course of study that is 100 percent online.’

ALSO READ| Herd Immunity To COVID-19 Still A Long Way Off, Can Be Sped Up By Vaccine:WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan

It also says that educational institutes should not issue Form I-20 to international students who are planning on taking a fully online course, ‘designated school officials should not issue a Form I-20 to a nonimmigrant student in new or initial status who is outside of the U.S. and plans to take classes at a SEVP-certified educational institution fully online.’

The ICE which manages foreign students and exchange visitors through the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), had issued guidelines on March 9, 2020, that allowed schools and students to engage in distance learning in excess of regulatory limits due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the statement issued on Friday, the ICE clarified that this will only be applicable to non-immigrant students.

The statement reads,‘The March 2020 guidance applies to nonimmigrant students who were actively enrolled at a U.S. school on March 9 and are otherwise complying with the terms of their nonimmigrant status, whether from inside the U.S. or abroad. SEVP will not issue a temporary final rule impacting nonimmigrant students for the fall school term.’

ALSO READ| United States And Its Allies Must Employ “More Creative And Assertive Ways” To Tackle ‘Frankenstein’ China: Mike Pompeo

The new guidelines come after the Trump administration withdrew the controversial order seeking foreign students to leave the US if their courses had moved completely online due to Covid-19. According to the proposed order, foreign students studying in American universities will be either forced to leave the country or transfer to another college if their universities offer only online classes in the fall semester. Universities such as Harvard and MIT, joined by hundreds of other schools and colleges and some states had filed a lawsuit after the announcement of the policy.