Clark, WPI international students regain legal status to study; visas still in question

Photo | Brad Kane Clark University in Worcester

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The 12 international students at Clark University and four at Worcester Polytechnic Institute whose legal statuses and visas were previously revoked are now able to continue their studies at the Worcester universities as their legal statuses have been reinstated.

After finding their legal statuses terminated in April through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a government-run web platform used to monitor foreign students and exchange visitors, their statuses have since been reinstated to active, meaning they are allowed to stay within the country and continue their studies at Clark and WPI.

The Clark student visa statuses are still unknown, and WPI was not able to confirm or deny the status of their students’ visas.

“We can confirm that the SEVIS records have been reinstated for all of our international students who had been impacted. We still do not have information about the status of visas or for the reason for the changes in SEVIS status to begin with,” Clark wrote in an email to WBJ.

Students’ SEVIS record is separate from their visa statuses: students’ SEVIS record details their legal status and tracks their studies while their visa details their eligibility to come to the United States. Furthermore, legal statuses are issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security through the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, while visas are issued by the U.S. Department of State.

The Department of State did not immediately return WBJ’s request for comment.

Clark announced on April 10 that 12 of its students had seen their legal statuses terminated and their visas revoked as part of the President Donald Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration. Mere hours earlier, Worcester Polytechnic Institute President Grace Wang wrote in an internal memo stating four international students had had their legal statuses and visas revoked that day as well.

The reinstatements follow the U.S. Department of Justice’s Friday announcement that the Trump Administration would reverse the termination of thousands of international students’ legal statuses.

This federal announcement came just days after two international students at WPI joined more than 100 students in a class-action lawsuit filed to reinstate their F-1 student visas, as reported by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

Clark and WPI have firmly stood by their international student populations, unequivocally denouncing the Trump Administration’s attack on their legal statuses. Clark signed onto an amicus brief in AAUP v. Rubio, opposing the student visa revocations and detention of noncitizen students and scholars.

“To all who have come to Clark from around the world – students, faculty, and staff – know that you are welcome and appreciated, and that we are here to support you,” Clark President David Fithian wrote in the April 10 memo to the Clark community.

Mica Kanner-Mascolo is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the healthcare and diversity, equity, and inclusion industries.