Graduates gather for the commencement ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 29, 2025. (Credit: AFP)
Anthony* and several of his classmates from Boston, Harvard, and Columbia Universities cut their vacations in Lebanon short to return to the United States at the end of August. The reason: a strict overhaul of residency rules for foreign students, affecting all nationalities, that would have limited the length of their stay, restricted changes to courses of study or institutions, and even prevented students from pursuing certain consecutive degrees.“We received an email from the university advising us not to take any risks,” Anthony told L’Orient-Le Jour. Holders of student visas (F-1) or visas for exchange or research programs (J-1) could have been exempt from the new regulations if they were physically present in the United States when the reform took effect. Those who were abroad at the time would have been subject to the new rules...
Anthony* and several of his classmates from Boston, Harvard, and Columbia Universities cut their vacations in Lebanon short to return to the United States at the end of August. The reason: a strict overhaul of residency rules for foreign students, affecting all nationalities, that would have limited the length of their stay, restricted changes to courses of study or institutions, and even prevented students from pursuing certain consecutive degrees.“We received an email from the university advising us not to take any risks,” Anthony told L’Orient-Le Jour. Holders of student visas (F-1) or visas for exchange or research programs (J-1) could have been exempt from the new regulations if they were physically present in the United States when the reform took effect. Those who were abroad at the time would have been subject to the new...
