What’s next after graduation?

In June 2024, during an interview on The All-In Podcast, President Donald Trump outlined a bold vision for the more than one million international students in the US, promising green cards upon graduation. However, many fear this could be little more than a campaign promise, raising questions about how his administration will reconcile its pledge to provide a pathway to permanent residency with its history of strict immigration enforcement.

“What I want to do, and what I will do, is ­– if you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically, as part of your diploma, a green card to be able to stay in this country,” Trump said, sparking hopes among students long hindered by visa restrictions.

Yet, this pledge for a smoother path to permanent residency contrasts sharply with Trump’s prior immigration policies. During his first term, his administration aggressively curtailed immigration, implementing the controversial ‘Muslim ban’.

He also attempted to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme if their classes shifted online during the COVID-19 pandemic, a policy that was later reversed after widespread backlash. Such actions leave international students wary of whether the promise will translate into action.

Currently, foreign students are able to study in the US through either an F-1 visa, for full-time academic studies at an accredited university or college, or an M-1 visa, for full-time vocational studies.

The H-1B programme issues roughly 65,000 visas annually, plus 20,000 for advanced degree holders, according to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Over 7 in 10 (70 per cent) of H-1B visa recipients are from India, followed by China at over 10 per cent. The remaining recipients come from countries like Canada, South Korea, the Philippines, Mexico, and Taiwan, according to a US Citizenship and Immigration Services report.

Critics, like Clare Lake, director of International Student Scholar Services at Columbia College, question the sincerity of Trump’s new promises.

“What kind of president would try to overturn DACA, and then say ‘I’m going to give all international students permanent residency?’” said Lake in an interview with The Columbia Chronicle, a student-run news publication of Columbia College in Chicago. “I just think the history of Donald Trump on immigration clearly stated this as a campaign promise.”

The future of international students remains uncertain. At New York University (NYU), which hosts more international students than any other institution in the United States, more than 27,000 students from across the globe were enrolled for the 2023–2024 academic year, according to Open Doors, a data initiative supported by the US State Department.

U.S. News & World Report ranked NYU as having the second-highest percentage of international students in fall 2023.

WORLD-CLASS EDUCATION

NYU has long been a popular destination for international students because of abundant cultural and social opportunities offered by New York City, and diverse community, global reputation, and extensive support for international students. However, many students fear that Trump’s immigration policies could limit these opportunities, creating uncertainty about their futures in the US.

Michael Ashoori, Esq, a US immigration attorney, suggests that Trump’s green card proposal, if implemented, might mirror the National Interest Waiver (NIW) process. It enables individuals in critical fields like AI, cybersecurity, healthcare, and engineering to apply for permanent residency.

“This suggests a streamlined pathway to US permanent residency for highly skilled professionals,” Ashoori said. He emphasised that retaining such talent is in the national interest, as these individuals receive world-class education in the US and could significantly contribute to the American workforce, rather than taking their skills back to their home countries.

However, Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Centre for Immigration Studies, offered a more cautious perspective, emphasising the limits of presidential authority in immigration policy.

“Don’t count on it,” he advised students hoping for a green card, noting that only Congress has the power to enact such a policy.

While the president can issue executive actions or modify regulations, the authority to fundamentally change immigration laws, such as creating a pathway to permanent residency, rests solely with Congress under the US Constitution. This underscores the complexities of immigration reform, as any significant policy change requires bipartisan legislation, which often faces political hurdles in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

For now, F-1 visas, which most international students hold, offer no such pathway.

“I think it’s a really good idea,” said Davia Willis, a 22-year-old student from Jamaica studying criminal justice with a minor in political science and law at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

“As an international student, we foot everything ourselves – tuition, rent, utilities – there’s no help for us,” said Willis. “ We study hard. We work hard. We take ourselves seriously.”

VITAL ROLE

The United States depends significantly on its engineering and scientific expertise to stay ahead of China in a critical race to dominate the industries of the future, including artificial intelligence, green energy, and bioengineering, according to Edward Alden, a foreign policy columnist and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“International students play a vital role in this dynamic,” Alden said, noting that they comprise 74 per cent of grad students in the electrical engineering field, 72 per cent in computer and information sciences, and more than half in other career fields like pharmaceutical sciences and math.

Alden further noted that many of these students stay in the US after graduation, eventually leading major tech companies such as Microsoft (Satya Nadella), IBM (Arvind Krishna), and Nvidia (Jensen Huang).

For students like John Morales, 22, who came to the US from Ecuador in 2017 and is pursuing an Associate of Science in Mechanical Engineering at LaGuardia Community College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, the uncertainty surrounding Trump’s immigration policy has created significant concerns about his future.

Morales, who serves as the vice-chair for international student affairs for the University Student Senate (USS) and as president of the Student Government Association at LaGuardia, says many international students are anxiously awaiting potential changes to immigration policy under a new administration.

“Until Trump takes office and policy changes, we are in limbo,” he said.

While there are a few city resources that can help students, including the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs and Legal Aid Society’s Immigration Law Unit, says Morales, CUNY Citizenship Now! offers free immigration services to New Yorkers, regardless of whether they are a CUNY student.

“CUNY can advocate for students. They are the largest legal assistance programme in the nation and they inform the community with the latest developments on immigration policy,” said Morales.

He added a sense of urgency to his advice.

“But I would recommend prioritising your education as an international student and focus on early graduation, in case new developments become difficult. CUNY is willing to help students when changes happen,” said Morales.

DIVISION ON THE ISSUE

The uncertainty weighs on students like Marc Aurele, 20, from Cameroon, studying at Guttman Community College in New York City. “A green card would bring stability,” he said. “I could focus on my studies and support my family.”

Akkeem Polack, 23, from Jamaica, studying communication technology at York College in Queens, NY, and vice chair for legislative affairs for USS, highlights similar challenges.

“We invest heavily to study here, so why not provide a pathway to stay legally?” said Polack. On Christmas Day, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, both Trump advisers, sparked an online debate on X (formerly Twitter) with Trump’s supporters about legal immigration, which highlighted division on the issue. Musk and Ramaswamy urged more H-1B visas for highly skilled foreign workers in fields like science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Meanwhile, the other side of Trump’s supporters, including Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, pushed back, saying Trump should prioritise US workers and tighten immigration policies.

Musk, who was born in South Africa and came to the US as a foreign student before working on an H-1B visa, recently shared on X, “Anyone – of any race, creed, or nationality – who came to America and worked like hell to contribute to this country will forever have my respect.”

Both Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who are expected to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, have championed expanding foreign tech worker admissions as a cornerstone of Trump’s next administration.

Afterward, Trump told The New York Post that he strongly supports H-1B visas. “I’ve always been in favour of the visas. I’ve used them many times; it’s a great programme,” Trump said.”