US election: Anxiety mounts among international students as future of visa regime up in the air
The incoming president can choke off resources to consular officials or direct them to be especially strict in reviewing applications.
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Four years ago, Nigerian Ernestino Amaechi got a visa to study business in the US but now he worries he might be forced to go back home and be separated from his two American-born children if visa rules are tightened after the US election.
Originally from the southern Rivers State in Nigeria, where he got his undergraduate degree, Amaechi now works as a part-time teacher at a community college thanks to a scheme that allows students to stay on after they graduate and get work experience.
But Amaechi’s Optional Practical Training benefit, which is linked to his student visa, is about to run out.
His only chance of staying in the US is if his employers file for the highly competitive H-1B visa for skilled foreign workers in specific fields.
And as he scrambles for a solution, he’s worried that the next US president could complicate matters for him.
“I don’t get this sorted; I am in a serious mess,” he said in a phone interview from Quincy in Massachusetts.
Amaechi is one of around 50,000 students from sub-Saharan Africa who come to the US every year to study. Though China and India still send the lion’s share of students, sub-Saharan Africa is the region experiencing the most rapid growth in student flows, with an increase of 18% in 2022-’23.
But the...
