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Nural Aliyev spent an entire afternoon trying to make sense of the guidelines for international students that United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement released July 6.

ICE’s unexpected policy change threatened all international students in the U.S. with deportation unless they took in-person courses this fall. Aliyev, a sophomore international relations major at Syracuse University from Azerbaijan, found the guidance vague and wondered what it would mean for him.

“This is basically telling (international students), ‘Oh, you’re a threat to national security,’” Aliyev said.

ICE rescinded the guidelines July 14, but announced on Friday that newly-enrolled international students will still be barred from entering the U.S. if they do not take at least one in-person college course. SU said Friday that it’s working to ensure all incoming international students can take in-person classes and have enough face-to-face coursework to fulfill ICE’s policy.

For many of SU’s over 4,000 international students, the constantly shifting policies and threat of deportation have left them feeling betrayed and unwelcome in the U.S. Facing other coronavirus-related difficulties — including visa delays, health risks and travel restrictions — many international students no longer see themselves returning to the university this fall.

Travel restrictions related to COVID-19 prohibit entrance into the U.S. for students from 31 countries, according to SU’s Center for International Services. The United Kingdom, where incoming freshman psychology major Motolani Oladitan lives, is one of the countries included in the travel restrictions.

The most recent ICE ruling poses an additional inconvenience for a lot of first-year international students, Oladitan said.

“I understand if it’s not safe and the university has another outbreak and has to move online, (but) it’s not the first-year students’ fault. What are we going to do?” she said. “It is a bit irritating and unnecessary considering the unprecedented circumstances.”

Friday’s ruling will not prevent Oladitan from traveling to the U.S. because she’s taking at least one class in-person. But she remains unsure whether she will spend her first year on campus.

To counteract the travel restrictions, SU has implemented a plan that will require international students returning from the 31 nations to spend almost a month quarantining in two different countries before they can set foot on campus.

Students from the affected countries will quarantine for 14 days in a separate country of their choosing before traveling to the U.S. to quarantine for another two weeks. SU’s proposed timeline requires students to have obtained by July 1 an F1 visa — which allows them to study in the U.S. — and have departed their home country no later than July 25.

Not only would Oladitan have to go through a third country in order to enter the U.S., but the earliest date she can obtain a visa is Aug. 24, the same day that SU classes are set to begin.

If she receives her visa past the date stated on her I-20 form — the document international students receive from the university that ensures they meet the visa requirements — she might not be able to attend SU in-person for her freshman year, she said.

“I’ll just have to be more proactive with my teachers and try to make more friends (online),” she said. “I’m pretty upset (because) I already paid fees. My parents already paid for housing and meal plans.”

ICE’s initial July 6 decision posed another challenge to international students at SU, who were already uncertain of what their fall semester would look like. Saachi Jain, a junior film major from India, said ICE’s decision made her feel like an unwelcome outsider in the U.S. for the first time.

“Ironically, I’m an outsider that pays higher tuition and contributes large amounts of money to the American economy to obtain equal levels of education,” she said. “I still stand by my right to study in the United States, and I hope international students are recognized as equally important contributors to America as a whole.”

International students make up about 20% of SU’s student body, and international students contributed $45 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Several international students said they were pleased with SU’s decision to join Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s lawsuit challenging ICE’s July 6 decision. SU announced July 9 that it would sign an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit, five days before ICE rescinded the initial policy. It is unclear whether SU will take legal action against ICE’s most recent decision.

“(The amicus brief) was one of the best things I’ve heard in a long time that (SU) has done for the school community, especially for the people of color within (SU),” said Jessica Tran, a sophomore photography major from Vietnam. “Hopefully that’s the start of something really, really good.”

Despite SU’s participation in the lawsuit, some international students feel the university could still do more to support them as they begin the fall semester. Several international students said they have been disappointed by SU’s lack of responsiveness and clarity regarding procedures related to COVID-19.

“It’s just kind of upsetting to know they’re just focused on the in-person classes in all of their emails,” Tran said. “I still have a lot of questions about housing. They never really mentioned anything about us not having to pay for housing or if our tuition fee would change.”

The university announced last week that all returning students, including international students, must quarantine for 14 days at their own expense in New York state or a state that is not a COVID-19 hotspot.

To reduce the risk of large-scale transmission of the virus, SU will conduct the fall semester under a hybrid model, offering classes both online and in-person. Even with the university’s social distancing measures, some international students feel they’re less at risk for contracting COVID-19 in their home countries than in the U.S.

Tran’s parents feel safer with her staying in Vietnam, which has reported 431 positive cases of the virus as of Monday compared to 4,276,856 cases in the U.S and 412,344 in New York state. She knows that taking classes online this year means she will likely lose her visa status and have to reapply next year.

Aliyev is also uncertain whether he will return to SU’s campus this semester. The U.S. only issues visas to Azerbaijani students for one year at a time, and because the U.S. embassy in his country is closed, Aliyev is unable to renew his visa at this time.

But even if he could renew his visa on time for the semester, Aliyev remains concerned for his safety and the safety of others returning to campus.

“It’s hard to imagine coming there because New York as a state is not good from a coronavirus standpoint,” Aliyev said. “I don’t (want to) risk coming there and getting people sick. It’s a moral sense of duty in general.”

Several international students said they hope their professors will be flexible with online class schedules. Time zone differences have posed challenges to international students since SU transitioned to online classes in March, with students sometimes required to attend virtual classes late at night or early in the morning.

International students who recently graduated or soon plan to graduate from SU face additional obstacles if they opt to remain in the U.S. Students like Hanz Valbuena have only one year after graduation to live and work in the U.S.

Valbuena, who was born in the Philippines but grew up in Dubai, graduated from SU as a television, radio and film major earlier this year and is currently living and working in New York City. Because he does not meet the criteria to apply for permanent residence, Valbuena will have to leave the country and his full-time job in public relations when his visa expires in January.

“It’s always been a stressful journey, but now it’s especially stressful because the economy is so bleak,” Valbuena said. “Every country’s strategy is to pull back, so I can’t just move to another country, and my future here has a hard deadline.”

The tenuous economy Valbuena is facing has also placed pressure on international students hoping to return SU in the fall. As additional expenses exacerbate the virus’s financial fallout, some international students are concerned about their ability to afford another year at SU.

Before announcing that returning students must quarantine at their own expense, SU said in May that it would raise the cost of tuition to $54,270 for all students admitted to the university in fall 2018 or later. The raise represents a 3.9% increase from the previous year.

Aliyev wants to see SU take the lead on offering more financial aid to international and low-income students to increase its financial accessibility.

“We need to help one another. There’s no excuse. Ignorance is not an option anymore,” he said.

“I understand we may have our differences, we may not look the same or may not talk the same, we share different beliefs, but everyone needs all the help we can get. This goes not just for international students, but for the rest of the world.”

Published on July 27, 2020 at 6:11 pm

Contact Sarah: scalessa@syr.edu | @sarahalessan