The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), in a recent report, writes that according to a verified source, ICE has terminated 4,736 SEVIS records since January 20, 2025, the majority on F-1 status.
The specialist publication Inside Higher Education has been running a tracker on revocations. It reports that as of 18 April, over 240 colleges and universities have identified 1,550-plus international students and recent graduates whose legal status has been changed by the State Department.
International students are becoming highly concerned about the US government’s unilateral visa and status revocations. The Department of State (DOS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recent crackdown on international students is coming down heavily on several foreign students by invoking student F1 Visas and deporting them from America.
Many colleges and universities have also reported that their students have lost their F-1 or J-1 visas due to activism or minor crimes. University officials are unsure why the students’ visas were terminated or have not received formal notification, and most have not received any immigration authorities’ communications either.
The federal government is revoking the student visas and terminating the student status of international students. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced that the Department of Homeland Security will review the social media and online activity for all immigration benefits.
International students who lose their study visas typically maintain their legal residency status in SEVIS, as long as they remain enrolled in courses. In the past, students’ legal statuses in the United States were not immediately canceled due to a revoked visa. Under the new administration, in some cases, student statuses are being revoked within hours of the visa’s revocation.
In many cases, the students’ legal status to remain in the United States has been revoked. International students who lose their entry visas typically maintain their legal residency status in SEVIS, as long as they remain enrolled in courses. However, as the Trump administration revokes hundreds of student visas, federal immigration officials are terminating students’ SEVIS status, potentially leading to arrest and deportation.
Further, US universities are not being notified by federal authorities of these status revocations. US universities are becoming aware as a result of proactive checks in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) database.
Students are only notified of visa revocations via email at the address they used to apply for their F-1 or other non-immigrant visa in the first place.
Lawsuits are beginning to mount as institutions and students struggle with the evolving legal environment. Students claim in at least 16 judicial challenges that they are unable to remain in the country or find employment without their student status. According to most lawsuits, the terminations are “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and not otherwise under law and the Constitution.”