With the US being the dream destination of all international students and Biden’s recent election to this dreamland country’s presidency, we’re sure many of you are anticipating what President-elect Biden’s rule could mean for you and your aspiration to study business and management in the US. This article is aimed to address precisely that; read ahead!
Under Trump’s presidency, as per the GMAC reports, US saw a 13.7 percent decline in international student applicants. Another study done by GMAC revealed how more than half of Indian and Chinese candidates felt that the current political atmosphere prevented them from applying to US schools.
With Trump’s continual attacks on international applicants shaped in the form and like of anti-immigrant policies, deregulated student loans, and disguised racism, students felt unwelcome and alien to the US, and they were forced to compromise their dreams and look for alternative study destinations.
But here’s the good part.
Experts on the topics opine that Biden’s stance on the US student visa policy will be reasonably warm and welcoming for international students. While Biden hasn’t yet formally announced his intended reforms about student visas, there are a significant number of reasons to conclude that his plans will be more reasonable in comparison to Trump’s.
Here is a brief contrast between the two.
Firstly, Biden has suggested his intentions to base student visas exclusively on the duration of the intended course of study, unlike Trump’s basis of nationality.
Secondly, Biden is likely to reverse Trump’s suspension of H1-B work visas. To quote Biden’s words from a speech in June, “The people coming on these [H1-B] visas have built this country.” That directly implies how Biden values the talented pool of workers that enter the States through the H1-B and L-1 visas.
Thirdly, with Biden in power, we can anticipate a well-coordinated control over the spread of COVID-19, which would translate to a return of in-person education system by Fall 2021- in sharp contrast to how the Trump administration failed to control America’s suffering from the virus.
Next, the newer STEM version of the Optional Practical training program allows MBA graduates to stay in the US and work for three years, unlike the 1-year OPT duration under Trump’s administration. Even worse, Trump intended to scratch off the entire OPT system, but, well, with Biden and Kamala Harris as elects, MBA graduates are likely to be eligible for three years of work.
In addition, we can safely expect a more inclusive, more accepting environment with lenient and reasonable visa policies for international student applicants because the Vice President-elect, Kamala Harris, is herself the child of two immigrants from Jamaica and India moved to America and studied at UC Berkeley.
US under the leadership of Joe Biden means a brighter job market and a greater value of a business school degree too. His victory is a win for prospective international students looking to study in US Business Schools. So you might want to get started right away!
Written by Onkarpreet Kaur
Academic Counsellor
Pegasus Admission Cell
Pegasus Global Consultants
