Thread by @ReichlinMelnick

Under DHS's new proposal, citizens or people born in the following countries would be banned from getting student visas longer than 2 years:

- Afghanistan
- Benin
- Bhutan
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cameroon
- Central African Republic
- Chad
- Congo (DRC)
- Congo (ROC)

/cont'd

https://twitter.com/doug_rand/status/1309124175148322816

Citizens or people born in countries that would be banned from student visas lasting over 2 years:

- Côte d'Ivoire
- Djibouti
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Gabon
- The Gambia
- Ghana
- Guinea
- Guinea-Bissau
- Guyana
- Haiti
- Iran
- Iraq
- Kenya
- Kosovo

/cont'd

Citizens or people born in countries that would be banned from student visas lasting over 2 years:

- Kyrgyzstan
- Liberia
- Libya
- Malawi
- Mali
- Mauritania
- Moldova
- Mongolia
- Nepal
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Rwanda
- Samoa

/cont'd

Citizens or people born in countries that would be banned from student visas lasting over 2 years:

- Senegal
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Turmenistan
- Tuvalu
- Uganda
- Uzbekistan
- Vietnam
- Yemen
- Zambia

That list is shockingly long. Only a few African countries escape restrictions.

If DHS's new proposed rule goes through, international students from countries like Nigeria, Kenya, Vietnam, and the Philippines would be effectively banned from getting four-year degrees in the US.

Most of those countries would be subject to restrictions because of the "10% visa overstay" threshold.

Here's an example of how that creates absurd results. In 2019, five students from Tuvalu departed the US on time, and one didn't.

That one person put the overstay rate at 17%.

Importantly, students blocked from a visa longer than two years could still get multiple student visas over the course of their education, in order to get a four-year degree or a grad degree. But that wouldn't be guaranteed, could be expensive, and denials are possible.

One final clarification to this thread, to go with the last tweet.

I used the word "ban," and I don't think I should have. That was overstated.

That doesn't take away from the fact that, because visa extensions aren't guaranteed, many students would choose not to take the risk.