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February 04, 2021
President Biden’s proclamation on January 25, 2021 added South Africa to the list of countries with COVID-19 related travel restrictions. These restrictions will remain in effect “until terminated by the President”.
February 02, 2021
The American Council on Education (ACE) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on behalf of 46 higher education associations to advocate for actions that will welcome and support prospective and current international students and ...
January 26, 2021
President Biden issued a proclamation on January 20, 2021 that revoked several Presidential Proclamations and Executive Orders from the Trump administration. The Department of State updated their U.S. Visa News section on January 22, 2021 with the following information that pertains to nonimmigrants.
January 26, 2021
President Biden issued a memorandum on January 20, 2021 “... to ensure that the President’s appointees or designees have the opportunity to review any new or pending rules.” Paragraph 2 of the memorandum requires that all rules from the previous administration that were pending publication in the Federal Register but were not yet published ...
January 14, 2021
CDC Media Statement: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding the requirement for a negative COVID-19 test to all air passengers entering the United States... Air passengers are required to get a viral test (a test for current infection) within the 3 days before their flight...
December 07, 2020
President Bollinger will address international students on a wide range of topics and engage in a moderated question and answer session. Students will be able to join this discussion remotely from anywhere in the world, including at one of the Global Center or pop-up sites. Registration required for the zoom link.
December 03, 2020
In an open letter to the president-elect, President Bollinger advocates for policy changes that "...will have an immediate impact on American universities and will benefit countless international students and scholars harmed by the previous administration’s turning away from the world.
On May 29, 2020, the President issued a Proclamation on the Suspension of Entry as Nonimmigrants of Certain Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China. The proclamation is effective at 12:00 pm EDT on June 1, 2020, and is to remain in effect until terminated by the President. Read more here.
The ISSO welcomes new international students to campus, and welcome back to students returning from the winter break.
Here are some reminders and resources for the new semester:
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has issued an important USCIS policy memorandum, effective September 11, 2018. As of the 11th, USCIS can deny an application or petition immediately at its discretion without allowing the applicant or petitioner the opportunity to submit additional evidence when the initial documentation provided was not deemed sufficient for approval. Read more.
The 8843 is a federal tax form required by most students and scholars--and their dependents--in F or J status. If you were in the United States for any part of 2017 in F or J student status -- even one day -- and are considered a “nonresident aliens” (NRA) for federal tax purposes, you and all your F2/J2 dependents must mail federal tax form 8843 to the IRS, even if you had no US income in 2017.
We have officially launched our ISSO Twitter account! Please follow us for deadlines, reminders, events, tips, and fun facts:
- @ColumbiaISSO
- Or view at https://twitter.com/columbiaisso