Over the last five years or so, the United States experienced a major growth regarding the number of incoming international students. This exponential growth is mainly because most of these students are searching and fighting for their version of the “American Dream.” The concept of an American Dream can mean different things to different people; however, to most international students, it means the promise of a better life and better opportunities.
In recent political developments, news outlets have informed us that, due to the security climate derived from Covid-19, the department of Homeland Security proposed a new security statement that not only impacts all international students, but also the U.S. economy. International students arrive in the U.S. with an F1 visa, which allows a four-year permanence period. The permanence period can be extended via OPTs and sponsorships. However, due to this new proposed security measurement, the extension possibility will become highly unlikely, if not impossible.
The main frame of the Security Measure proposal consists of the permanence period reduction of F and J nonimmigrant visa holders that come to the U.S. Meaning: most international students that hold either one of these visa types are only allowed to stay in the U.S. until their program’s completion, which indirectly reflects the slight possibility of permanence extension or the possibility of being absorbed into the American marketplace and workforce fraction.
The new development came as a shock to the international student community not only due to the rapid emotional turmoil that came alongside the adjustments made for the pandemic, but also due to a sudden life goal impediment. The life goal impediment statement comes from the fact that most international students and their families had planned for them to have an American education and way of life for most of their lives; so, these families experience a sense of unrewarded financial and emotional sacrifice that originated as a result of this new security measurement that may be approved and implemented by the U.S. government. In other words, the international students and their families may be feeling hopeless and robbed of their “American Dream.”
Additionally, it is important to acknowledge that all international students who were capable of granting a position in American companies should be given the opportunity to get practical training within the United States. This kind of training is only obtained through the extension period of the F or J visas; so, students who partake in the Optional Practical Training (OPT) are transforming their theoretical knowledge, learned in American universities, into practical knowledge that not only serves to conclude the American education that they came for, but also their wholesome education as individuals.
Finally, since we are all experiencing confusing and unstable times, there are no clear paths to take in order to achieve some kind of security or control. If the proposal is approved, one might say that the endless economic and social consequences will all reach the same end: the redefinition of the term “American dream.” While addressing the matter of social justice, it is important to grasp the importance of this new security proposal that not only affects the goals of international students, but also the future and balance of the American society and what it means to have an American Dream.