Dear Erica,
First of all, we have not seen any additional movement on the publication of the Duration of Status final rule since we learned that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) completed its review last week. You can count on us to keep you posted. Visit NAFSA's final rule page for more details.
In other OMB-related news, the deadline to comment on the proposed rule that would drastically change the governance of all federal grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of financial assistance is July 13. If implemented, the so-called “Uniform Guidance” would have an enormous impact on research conducted at U.S. universities, and as Holden Thorp, editor-in-chief of Science and former chancellor of the University of North Carolina, told the Financial Times, it could represent a "mortal blow" for U.S. science, “subverting the principles that have enabled America to be the leader in science for the last 80 years.” And it’s not only grants for scientific research that will be impacted but grants for international education as well, such as those made by the U.S. Departments of State and Education. As the American Council on Education said in a press release describing the draft regulation, institutional feedback is critical. To date, nearly 66,000 comments have been filed.
The Fulbright Program is in the crosshairs of a bill amendment offered by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO-04) that would eliminate funding entirely for the program. The amendment was ruled in order by the House Rules Committee as part of the FY2027 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act and could come up for a floor vote in the House of Representatives as soon as next week. While we don’t expect this amendment to gain traction, it represents an important opportunity to demonstrate the strong support that exists for this program and for international education and exchange programs overall. See below for how to add your voice to the advocacy campaign led by the Alliance for International Exchange, of which NAFSA is a member.
On top of the two devastating earthquakes that rocked Venezuela this week—potentially affecting the nearly 3,000 international students from there now in the United States—two rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court on June 25 sent shockwaves throughout the immigration community. In a 6-3 decision, the justices ruled that U.S. immigration officials can turn away asylum seekers at the southern border, and then ruled again in a 6-3 fashion that the high court did not have the authority to intervene in the administration’s controversial end to temporary protected status for thousands of citizens from war-torn Syria and violence-plagued Haiti. Many campuses have students and staff who will be impacted by this ruling, and our hearts go out to them, and all those affected by the earthquakes in Venezuela.
In a ray of good news, posts made this week to an International Student Advising Network discussion on Network.NAFSA reveal that Optional Practical Training has been approved for some students from Iran, Nigeria, Togo, Zaire, and Zimbabwe. Some students requested premium processing while others did not. Please feel free to add to the discussion your recent experiences with OPT approvals for students, particularly those from countries affected by the travel ban.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Note that this newsletter is taking a hiatus next week in observance of the July 4 holiday.
Thank you kindly.
Best,
Erica
Erica Stewart
Senior Director, Advocacy & Strategic Communications
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
