INS memo restricts use of B visa by border 'commuter students'

A May 22, 2002, INS memorandum clarified the status of part-time commuter students residing in contiguous territory such as Canada and Mexico. The memorandum reiterated a field memo issued May 17, 1991 which stated that "aliens who seek to enter the United States regularly but primarily to pursue less than a full course of study are neither visitors nor students and are ineligible for student visas or visitor status." The memo gave INS ports of entry the discretion to allow already-enrolled part-time Canadian and Mexican commuter students to complete the 2002 spring semester by authorizing humanitarian parole under Section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. POEs were instructed not to admit any new part-time students seeking to enroll in further or new courses of study. This memo was subsquently superseded by an INS regulation regarding border commuter students, and the Border Commuter Student Act of 2002.