Policy Priorities

SEVP's Fall 2020 guidance is extreme, regressive, and damaging to international students and the entire higher education community in significant ways. Join our effort to have it rescinded.

The current administration is considering measures to pause or end the F-1 Optional Practical Training program (OPT). The United States cannot afford to take away this option for international students and scholars. Our nation needs to attract the best minds to help get the U.S. economy back up and running again. We need to have the next innovation and ground-breaking research happen here. Foreign students benefit America’s colleges and universities, American students, and also our businesses and the wider economy.

NAFSA urges Congress to provide critical financial resources, oversight, and policy changes in order to revive and restore international student enrollment and study abroad programs at U.S. colleges and universities impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global response to it.

For decades, students have been granted immigration status that lasts for the period of time they are engaging in their studies and practical training, known as duration of status, or D/S. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced that they intend to propose a rule to limit the amount of time international students can stay in the country by eliminating the "D/S" policy.

To make study abroad the norm, not the exception, for today's U.S. college student Congress should pass the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act to incentivize higher education to increase study abroad and provide a cost-effective, sustainable way to ensure more diverse U.S. undergraduates can study internationally.

NAFSA supports the Dream Act and urges Members of Congress to call for a vote on a permanent legislative solution for Dreamers. A permanent legislative solution is the best way to ensure DACA recipients are protected and can continue to help America grow and prosper.