Thousands of international students whose U.S. visas were recently revoked will have their legal status restored following a sudden policy reversal by the Trump administration.
The Trump administration announced on Friday that it will restore the visa records of potentially thousands of international students whose legal status in the United States had been abruptly revoked in recent months. The decision came during a federal court hearing in Boston, where the government's policy was being challenged.
The reversal affects students whose records had been terminated from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a federal database managed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that tracks compliance among approximately 1.1 million foreign student visa holders. The removal of these records placed students at risk of deportation, sparking lawsuits and widespread concern within the academic community.
Since President Donald Trump assumed office on January 20, more than 4,700 student visa holders had their SEVIS records deleted, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association. The reasons behind the terminations were not always clear, but many students claimed they were unaware of violations and had no chance to respond before losing legal status.
SEVIS requires students to maintain compliance with visa terms, which include full-time academic enrolment, limited employment, and lawful conduct. Any deviation can result in automatic record termination.
The sudden change in stance was disclosed in an email from a government lawyer shortly before a hearing in the case of Carrie Zheng, a student at Boston University whose visa status was among those challenged. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor read the email aloud in court, revealing that ICE was now working on a formal policy to govern SEVIS terminations and that all affected student records, including Zheng’s, would remain active or be restored pending new guidelines.
The policy shift provides temporary relief for international students who had faced legal uncertainty. However, it remains unclear how long the restoration will last or what the forthcoming ICE policy will entail.
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