On Monday, July 6, 2020, the Student and Exchange Visitor
Program (SEVP) announced modifications to its previously issued
exemptions for foreign students taking online classes due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. Generally, foreign students cannot solely take
online classes and maintain student visa status. Rather, they
are required to participate in in-person learning. However, due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, international students, and the U.S. schools
that educate them, had been given a reprieve by the U.S.
government, and those students had been permitted to take all
online classes for the spring and summer semesters. This all
changed without broad public discussion and without allowing
universities to be able to weigh-in, in an official manner.
