1 week Ago By Ajay Kumar
The United States is escalating its crackdown on international students amid an intense screening of their activities to ensure they are not involved in any sort of illegal activities, and if they are, well, the US is taking an extreme step - revoking their visas. According to media reports, even minor offences are leading to the revocation of F-1 student visa of several Indian students. Many Indian students across universities in Missouri, Texas, and Nebraska have received such notices, days after a wave of deportation notices linked to alleged campus activism hit several students, reported TOI.
The offences that are leading to the revocation of visas include small traffic violations like speeding and driving without a licensed supervisor on a learner’s permit, to more serious incidents like shoplifting and alcohol-related charges. ALSO READ | Why Indians Students are at Risk in US Designated School Officials (DSOs) at various institutions have emailed students to tell them that their records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) have been terminated. This action leads to rendering of their Form I-20, Employment Authorization Document (EAD), and legal presence in America, which gets invalid, the report added.
What Did DSO's Email Say? The emails clarified that a revoked F-1 visa in a student’s passport is no longer valid and asked those still in the US to make arrangements for departure. Many immigration attorneys have called this response highly unusual, particularly for minor infractions that do not typically warrant such severe consequences. Many students have said that some of the violations took place years ago and were addressed through legal course of action.
A few said they were cleared of the charges and yet, they received the notices, reported India Today. READ MORE | An American Nightmare for Indians A student in Texas was arrested for shoplifting items valued at USD144 from Walmart. The case was dismissed due to a clean academic record and full cooperation with authorities, but he still faces deportation, TOI reported.
US Agency Monitoring Social Media. Here's Why In another development, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in a release stated that it was monitoring the social media activities of people and any sort of antisemitic or other objectionable activity would lead to the denial of immigration benefits. "Today, USCIS will begin considering aliens’ antisemitic activity on social media and the physical harassment of Jewish individuals as grounds for denying immigration benefit requests.
This will immediately affect aliens applying for lawful permanent resident status, foreign students and aliens affiliated with educational institutions linked to antisemitic activity," the release added, as per TOI. This means that international students applying for green card status and those seeking non-immigrant work visas will bear the brunt of the policy if their posts are perceived as being antisemitic. Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from India and around the world.
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