What are the latest developments for international students in the United States?

An update like this needs a time stamp as the events reported are unfolding quickly. It was first published on 12 June at 23:44 Central European Time.

Needless to say, there has been a flurry of headlines concerning current and prospective international students in the US over the last few weeks. What follows is a summary of the most recent developments over the weeks of 2 June and 9 June.

The pause continues

On 27 May, the US State Department ordered a pause on scheduling new interview appointments for student visa applicants. The commentary around the order at the time was that this was a short-term measure that would end in “the coming days”.

The pause continues, however, at this writing and is stretching into its third week. As it extends later into June, that pause on scheduling new interviews becomes a larger and larger issue. The key processing period for student visas for the United States is May to August. In 2024, seven out of ten student visas issued by the US were granted in that four-month period.

Writing on LinkedIn this week, NAFSA CEO Fanta Aw said, "This suspension comes at a peak time when at least 50% of new international students still need to schedule visa interview appointments in order to arrive in time for the fall semester."

NAFSA and the US for Success Coalition are urging stakeholders to appeal to Congress to end the pause on scheduling visa interviews. It seems clear that it will already have had an impact on enrolments for the coming academic year. How significant that impact grows to be will depend on how much longer the pause of new visa interviews extends through this peak processing period.

Travel ban 2.0

On 4 June, President Trump issued a proclamation establishing a new travel ban. It includes a "total ban" on citizens from 12 countries entering the United States, and a "partial ban" on those from another 7 countries.

The 12 total ban countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The 7 partial ban countries are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Both categories include a ban on F, M, and J student visas.

Both categories of travel ban apply to nationals of an affected country who are outside of the US, without a valid visa, as of 9 June 2025. The proclamation clearly states that, "No immigrant or nonimmigrant visa issued before the applicable effective date of this proclamation shall be revoked pursuant to this proclamation." This means that students from countries included in the ban who are already in the US, and with a valid visa, will not be subject to removal.

Of the 19 countries included in the ban, only three sent more than 1,000 students to the United States in 2023/24.

• Burma (3,222 students in the 2023/24 academic year)
• Iran (12,430)
• Venezuela (3,904)

Iran is the notable inclusion in the group, not only in the scale of its current enrolment in the US but also because it is a top tier growth market for international student recruitment worldwide and is poised to send larger numbers of students abroad in the medium to long-term.

Harking back to the earlier travel ban during the first Trump administration, the bigger issue here might be the signal that this sends to international markets. It will be generally understood (in affected countries and otherwise) to indicate that the US is no longer as open to international visitors, including students. This sentiment will likely be amplified in regions that are home to banned countries (e.g., Africa, other Muslim-majority nations, etc.). In that sense, the impact of the ban could be farther reaching than it might initially appear, especially in conjunction with other recent policy announcements from the US administration.

We saw an early example of this in early June when Malaysian officials said that they would no longer send scholarship students to the US, in response to new policies affecting foreign students under President Trump.

Can students still go to Harvard?

The Trump administration is locked in a battle with Harvard University. On 22 May, the Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification, a move that would prevent the university from enrolling foreign students. The revocation was swiftly overturned by a 23 May court order, but President Trump subsequently issued a Presidential Proclamation barring students from entering the United States to study at Harvard.

"I have determined that it is necessary to restrict the entry of foreign nationals who seek to enter the United States solely or principally to participate in a course of study at Harvard University or in an exchange visitor program hosted by Harvard University," wrote the President.

The 4 June Proclamation sets out clearly that it applies to those students travelling from outside of the United States: "The suspension and limitation on entry pursuant to section 1 of this proclamation shall apply to aliens who enter or attempt to enter the United States to begin attending Harvard University through the SEVP after the date of this proclamation."

But it also opens the door to revocation of visas for students already enrolled at the university: "The Secretary of State shall consider, in the Secretary’s discretion, whether foreign nationals who currently attend Harvard University and are in the United States pursuant to F, M, or J visas…should have their visas revoked."

In any event, implementation of the Proclamation was also swiftly blocked – on 5 June – by another court order. On 9 June, CNN reported that the State Department had ordered all US posts abroad to resume processing of student visas for Harvard-bound applicants.

For additional background, please see:

• "ICEF Podcast: Live from NAFSA 2025"
• "Sector and students shocked as US State Department says it will 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students'"
• "Trump administration orders a pause on new student visa interviews"
• "Trump administration bars Harvard from enrolling international students; judge promptly issues restraining order to prevent the move"