From what I have seen, I assume this is Trumpian, and related to the restrictions to H1B visas (which most foreign academics come in on):

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/22/us/politics/trump-h1b-work-visas.html

There was debate at one point that non-commercial organisations such as universities would be excluded from this ban; but they are now in it, as far as I know.

A step leading up to those restrictions was that the government got rid of expedited processing for H1Bs (for a fee, a reply within a period of a few weeks was guaranteed - which often was the only way to get a foreign academic into the US in time for them to start their work on time/at the beginning of the semester).

Not a good time, neither for people nor institutions.  

--Antonia

On Mon, 6 Jul 2020 at 23:53, Jeffery Long via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:
Thank you for alerting us to this, Patricia. Do you have a sense of whether this is COVID-19-related, or just more Trumpian BS?

All the best,
Jeff

Dr. Jeffery D. Long
Professor of Religion & Asian Studies
Elizabethtown College


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

On Monday, July 6, 2020, 5:26 PM, Rosane Rocher via INDOLOGY <indology@list.indology.info> wrote:

This is insane. 

Rosane Rocher

On 7/6/20 3:28 PM, Patricia Sauthoff via INDOLOGY wrote:
I wanted to bring this to the attention of anyone teaching in the US this autumn. 

The US government has made changes to its overseas student visa rules. Overseas students may now no longer remain in the US if their universities operate entirely online. They either must leave the country or transfer to a school with in-person instruction. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/sevp-modifies-temporary-exemptions-nonimmigrant-students-taking-online-courses-during

Best wishes,

Patricia 

--
Patricia Sauthoff
(she/her/they/them)
Postdoctoral Fellow
AyurYog.org
Department of History and Classics
University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada

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