International students, faculty, and staff at UC Berkeley are being urged not to travel abroad following recent shifts in immigration policy, the Berkeley International Office said.
“U.S. Immigration policy today is volatile and subject to sudden change,” the BIO advisory reads. “If you are presently holding a student, scholar or employee immigration status in the U.S. and you leave, BIO cannot assure your return to the U.S. in a timely fashion, which may affect your U.S. visa status.”
A few students at UC Berkeley’s International House, a multicultural campus residence center, reported receiving an email informing them of the travel advisory.
Xiangrui, a student who came to the U.S. from China in 2019 on a student visa, recently began his doctorate program at UC Berkeley.
“For the time being, I will just remain in California,” he said on Monday.
Although Xiangrui is permitted to remain and study in the U.S., he’s not certain that he’ll be permitted to reenter if he departs. Although Xiangrui’s Form I-20 remains current, his F-1 student visa has lapsed.
A Form I-20 is an eligibility certificate confirming that an individual has been accepted into an approved school.
An individual who has an expired F-1 visa can remain in the U.S. as long as they are in student status, as reported by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
But if a person is going home where automatic revalidation does not exist — such as China — ICE says a valid visa is needed to return.
“If I must renew it, I must depart and return. For Chinese nationals, sometimes they will conduct background checks and issue me a one-year visa, which is not really worth it,” Xiangrui added. “It’s a problematic issue [with] the existing political climate, particularly. I just feel slightly frustrated, but [I’m] still alright, because I can still learn.”