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Pakistani students fear uncertain future after new US university rule

In this file photo, Hunter College graduates listen as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton delivers the commencement address at the Hunter College Commencement ceremony at Madison Square Garden, May 29, 2019 in New York City. (AFP)
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Updated 14 July 2020
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Pakistani students fear uncertain future after new US university rule

  • Follows Trump’s call to cancel foreign students’ visas if full courses are moved online due to COVID-19 outbreak
  • Restrictions to impact F-1 and M-1 visa holders in the country
Updated 14 July 2020
Sabah Bano Malik

RAWALPINDI: President Donald Trump’s decision to revoke visas of all foreign students whose courses have been moved online due to the coronavirus outbreak has caused widespread panic, with several Pakistani students telling Arab News on Monday that the move could “disrupt” their future and education.

It follows a July 6 announcement by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which would force tens of thousands of international students to return to their home country, unless their university offers in-person classes.

“This would be devastating for many reasons. I have a lease. I have furniture. I have a life, a routine, friends, I would have to buy a ticket. I haven’t even checked if there are flights home. The ruling is a disruption to my future and education,” Sarah Latif, who is from Karachi and did not wish to be identified by her real name, told Arab News over the phone from New York.

The restrictions affect holders of F-1 and M-1 visas which are used by international students who make up more than one million of the student population numbers across universities in the US

More than 13,000 out of those are from Pakistan.

The Trump administration and ICE has been increasingly cracking down on immigration with the latest measure issued a few months after a reprieve was granted to F-1 visa holders.

This allowed most universities to conduct classes online and limit the spread of coronavirus on campuses. 

Many now fear that if the new ruling is imposed, they would have no choice but to leave the country, with Latif saying that she had been feeling “frustrated” and “anxious” since the announcement last week.

“I haven’t been able to do any work. (The fear of) having to go home (to Pakistan) — being in a different time zone with bad Internet, disconnected from library resources and professors would be detrimental to my studies,” she said.

The past few days have seen petitions being filed against ICE by three of the country’s top varsities – the Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Rice University – to stop the agency from going ahead with the ruling.

Meanwhile, New York University has introduced an in-person class for all international students, which would allow them to take at least one course on campus with the rest online – a necessary criterion for the visas to be issued and remain valid. 

Others students, however, spoke about how the directive would “force universities to open campuses and risk the students’ health.”

“If a case breaks out because of this, the campus will close again, what happens then?,” Abdullah Zahid, 22, who is pursuing a bachelor’s program at the Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, told Arab News.

Zahid has been in Islamabad since March after traveling home before the outbreak and says that the Babson model – where classes are held both online and in-person – could allow him to return to campus later this month.

That, however, is the least of his worries.

“Being an ‘international’ (student) doesn’t put me in a good spot as it is, you have such a big filter, and now that filter is a cage – either you suffer and come back, or you don’t come back and suffer some more,” he said.

Hassan Nadeem, 27, a student of Masters in Energy & Environment, in Durham, North Carolina, agrees.

He said that the ruling would force foreign students to rethink “where they fit in” in the current setup.

“It’s a sweeping ruling and leaves a lot of questions,” he said, adding that he was considering moving to another country.

“I am increasingly thinking of (moving to) Canada... It’s more of a wait and watch policy at my end, and I think for a lot of other international students as well,” he told Arab News.

Like Nadeem, Fatima Mohsen, a University of South Florida Masters student, said she was concerned about the legalities of securing a work visa in the country, now that she had completed her course.

“When you’ve graduated, you’re in a very different status, until you secure a work visa. In this transition state, there’s no communication about what will be the legal standpoint to have the IDs valid. A lot of people have graduated, they’re here snd are looking for work, but they don’t know if they’re going to be in legal status for the next six months,” she told Arab News.

Meanwhile, officials said that Fullbright Scholar students from Pakistan had no cause for concern as they were on “government-sponsored programs.”

“Fullbrighters are there on J Visas on government-sponsored programs they are not on the F visa,” Rita Akhtar, Executive Director of the United States Educational Foundation in Pakistan (USEFP) which heads the Fulbright Commission told Arab News.

She added that irrespective of whether the students study in person or online, their scholarships would remain intact.

“We’ve known for quite a while that schools are not likely to open in the fall. Most of [the students] were already planning to go in January; we’re still making sure that they can be full-time students, even if they can’t physically get to the US in the fall so that they can do their program,” she added.

Topics: Pakistan Pakistani students in the United States

Pakistan secures $1.2 billion as IMF clears reviews, flags gains on stability and reforms

Updated 9 sec ago
ISMAIL DILAWAR 
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Pakistan secures $1.2 billion as IMF clears reviews, flags gains on stability and reforms

  • IMF praises Pakistan’s policy implementation despite challenging global environment and climate-driven shocks
  • The Executive Board urges faster energy, SOE and governance reforms for macroeconomic and fiscal sustainability
Updated 9 sec ago
ISMAIL DILAWAR 

KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved Pakistan’s second review under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and the first review of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), said a statement on Tuesday, unlocking about $1.2 billion in new financing while praising the country’s progress in stabilizing the economy despite recent floods.

The decision taken by the IMF Executive Board allows Islamabad to draw $1 billion under the EFF and $200 million under the RSF, bringing total disbursements under both arrangements to about $3.3 billion. The Fund said Pakistan’s policy implementation had improved financing conditions, strengthened reserves and preserved stability even as the country faced a challenging global environment and climate-driven shocks.

Under the 37-month EFF, approved last year in September, the IMF noted strong fiscal performance, including a primary surplus of 1.3 percent of GDP, a rebound in gross reserves to $14.5 billion by end-FY25 from $9.4 billion a year earlier and progress on rebuilding confidence. It noted a surge in inflation due to flood-related food price spikes but said it was expected to ease.

“Pakistan’s reform implementation under the EFF arrangement has helped preserve macroeconomic stability in the face of several recent shocks,” IMF Deputy Managing Director Nigel Clarke said. “Real GDP growth has accelerated, inflation expectations have remained anchored, and fiscal and external imbalances have continued to moderate.”

Clarke said Islamabad’s commitment to meeting its FY26 primary balance target while also addressing urgent post-flood relief signaled strong fiscal intent. He urged continued tax policy simplification and base broadening to build space for climate resilience, social protection and public investment.

The IMF official maintained a tight monetary stance should be continued to keep inflation within the State Bank Pakistan’s target range, while allowing exchange-rate flexibility and deepening the interbank market.

Additionally, he said financial regulation enforcement and capital market development were essential for a resilient financial sector.

The IMF also flagged energy sector reforms as “critical to safeguarding viability,” noting that timely tariff adjustments had helped curb circular debt but that Pakistan must now focus on reducing electricity production and distribution costs and addressing operational inefficiencies in both the power and gas sectors.

The statement also welcomed the publication of Pakistan’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic report, a detailed IMF-supported assessment that maps out where government systems are vulnerable to inefficiency or misuse and recommends reforms to improve transparency, accountability and service delivery.

Further priorities include the privatization of state-owned enterprises and strengthening economic data quality.
Clarke said reducing Pakistan’s climate vulnerability was vital for long-term stability, referring to the RSF, a financing tool that provides long-term, low-cost loans to help countries address climate risks.

“The RSF arrangement is supporting efforts to strengthen natural disaster response and financing coordination, improve the use of scarce water resources, raise climate considerations in project selection and budgeting, and improve the information on climate-related risks in financing decisions,” he said.

Pakistan faced a prolonged economic crisis in recent years before it began implementing stringent IMF-recommended reforms, which have driven a gradual improvement in macroeconomic indicators over the past two years.

The country also remains one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations despite contributing less than one percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions.

It has endured a series of extreme weather events in recent years, most notably the 2022 super-floods that submerged one-third of the country, displaced millions and caused an estimated $30 billion in losses.

This year’s floods killed over 1,000 people and caused at least $2.9 billion in damage to agriculture and infrastructure, underscoring the scale of climate pressures facing the economy.

Economic experts told Arab News a day earlier that the Fund’s disbursements under the two loan programs would support the cash-strapped nation, which has relied heavily on financing from bilateral partners such as Saudi Arabia, China and the United Arab Emirates, as well as multilateral lenders.

“It obviously will help strengthen the external sector, the balance of payments,” said Samiullah Tariq, group head of research at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company.

Another analyst, Shankar Talreja, head of research at Karachi-based Topline Securities, said the move was likely to send a positive signal to domestic and international investors about the government’s commitment to its reform agenda.

“This will help strengthen reserves and will eventually help a rating upgrade going forward,” he said.
 

Topics: IMF bailout IMF in Pakistan loan tranche approved

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