Skip to main content

Update for our international students

Dear members of our Stanford community,

As you may have seen in news reports, today the federal government agreed to rescind its July 6 guidance requiring nonimmigrant students who are not taking in-person classes in Fall 2020 to leave the United States. The government has instead reverted to the guidance issued in March, which allows international students to participate in online or in-person instruction without affecting visa status.

This is most welcome news for international students and for the entire Stanford community, and we are very pleased that the government heard the concerns of the higher education community and decided to change course. The decision was announced at a scheduled court hearing in the lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT last week, which Stanford supported in an amicus brief, filed with 58 of our peer institutions.

In the coming days, the university will issue further guidance to our international students about plans for this fall. For now, we are delighted that this obstacle to their continued progress towards their degrees has been removed.

Sincerely,
Marc Tessier-Lavigne