US asks all foreign students to leave the country if their schools hold all classes online

President Trump administration has issued an order that could force tens of thousands of foreign students to leave the country if their schools hold all classes online.

The Trump administration announced that international students would have to leave the USA or possibly be deported if the college or university they attend switches to online-only classes in the fall because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Similarly, international students enrolled in colleges or universities offering only online courses this fall will be barred from entering the USA. 

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Monday night issued a statement saying that Non-immigrant F-1 and M-1 students attending schools operating entirely online may not take a full online course load and remain in the United States.

The US will also not issue visas to students whose colleges will offer full online courses from later this year.

Harvard is among the first universities that has shifted completely to online teaching till a vaccine is found to tackle coronavirus. Students, even who are in the campus, will have to learn courses remotely.

Foreigners constitute around 5.5% of the students enrolling in US colleges and contributed over $ 41 billion to the US in fiscal year 2019.India sent over 2 lakh students to the US in fiscal 2019, the largest after China.

ICE has threatened that students who don't comply with the new rules of finding a college that offers in-person teaching could be removed from the country.