US Reverses Decision To Terminate Visas For International Students Amid Legal Challenges
Judges around the country had already issued temporary orders restoring the students' records in a federal database of international students maintained by US
The Trump administration has reversed its decision to terminate the legal status of thousands of international students studying in the United States, following multiple legal challenges across the country.
The announcement was made during a court hearing in Boston, where a federal judge was reviewing one of several lawsuits filed by international students affected by the move.
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In recent weeks, many students’ records had been unexpectedly deleted from SEVIS—the official federal database used by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track international students. In many cases, neither the students nor their universities were informed in advance.
However, judges in different states had already issued temporary orders to reinstate the students’ records in SEVIS. Now, ICE has begun manually restoring the status of students whose records were removed.
During a federal court session in Oakland, a government lawyer read a statement confirming that ICE was taking steps to restore records for all affected students. A similar statement was shared in a separate case in Washington, according to lawyer Brian Green, who represents one of the students involved.
Green also shared a written statement from a government attorney, which read: “ICE is developing a policy that will provide a framework for SEVIS record terminations. Until such a policy is issued, the SEVIS records for plaintiff(s) in this case (and other similarly situated plaintiffs) will remain Active or shall be re-activated if not currently active and ICE will not modify the record solely based on the NCIC finding that resulted in the recent SEVIS record termination."
Green confirmed the statement would apply to all international students in similar situations—not just those who filed lawsuits.
SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) tracks compliance with visa regulations. The terminations were reportedly triggered by checks in the NCIC (National Crime Information Centre) database, which is run by the FBI.
Many International students were told their status was revoked due to criminal record findings or visa cancellations—often without evidence or explanation. Universities and students were caught off guard by the sudden terminations, which were discovered during routine database checks or after hearing reports of similar cases from other schools.
(With inputs from agencies)
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