Some international students stay in U.S. fearing visa issues

As students across the country moved back to their hometowns to begin remote learning, many international students stayed at their respective colleges, including at Lehigh. 

Some international students fear that if they leave the country, they might not be able to return because they possess student visas. With a student visa, one cannot be out of the country for more than five months.

Manyi Guo, ‘23, is from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus first appeared late last year. When Lehigh moved to remote learning for the rest of the semester, she called her parents about whether or not to stay on campus. 

Guo said while her parents were worried about her, they agreed that she should stay at Lehigh. She said there is a higher risk of contracting coronavirus if she traveled back home. 

Guo said she is not planning on returning home to Wuhan between the spring and fall semesters. She said she was worried that if she returned to Wuhan, she could have issues returning to Lehigh in the fall. 

Before Lehigh went remote, she lived in Upper Centennial, but was recently relocated to Brodhead residence hall near Farrington Square. 

Housing Services sent an email to Guo and other students staying on campus, explaining the reason for condensing the population to Brodhead is for safety reasons. 

“This will allow us to provide better (and) more efficient service to students still remaining on campus, and also give us fewer areas to clean, monitor and manage,” the email said. “It will also enable us to address health issues more efficiently should there be a cause for it.” 

Guo knows about seven other people still living at Lehigh, and said she felt lonely at first with the lack of human interaction, though she is getting used to her new reality. 

Guo said for classes requiring a lot of reading, she has found them to be more difficult because she has to read the essays and passages on her laptop, which she said she has never enjoyed. For courses like calculus, however, she said class is easier because she can learn at any time, anywhere, with the recorded online lectures. 

“I cook my meals every day, walk around campus, have Facetime with my friends, have Zoom meetings whenever I have classes and do the homework as usual,” Guo said. “I’m more used to this life now, and walking around campus to appreciate the arrival of spring has become my favorite activity.”

Cecilia Wang, ‘23, is from Beijing, China. She is living in Richards House with many other Chinese students, and said some of her friends were asked to relocate within the building to avoid sharing a bathroom. 

Wang said she and her parents were relieved when they learned Lehigh was going to close. She said fewer people meant less of a chance of contracting the coronavirus.

Wang said she has been satisfied with learning through online classes.

“The interaction between professors and students is very important through this teaching form, so I actually give more output and thinking by getting the same input,” Wang said.

Wang said she spends most of her time in her room, listening to class recordings, attending live Zoom sessions and learning how to cook from websites. She said she does not go out, except to get packages from the Mail Center or to buy food. 

She is planning to return home in May, and she said she has three plane tickets booked in case one gets canceled. 

Wang said she was not worried about her visa because the Office of International Student and Scholar Services said they will offer an electronic F1 visa that could be shipped to her back in China. 

She said she’s mostly worried about whether or not she will be allowed back into the U.S. in August if the coronavirus is still prevalent. 

Tracy Liang, ‘23, is also from Beijing, but is living in Princeton, NJ. 

 “(My family and I) weren’t so worried because we have a house in Princeton,” Liang said. “So, I just moved out from school and went back (there).  We Facetime every day, so I’m not worried, but still, things are unpredictable.” 

Liang said she received a new visa last year, so she is not worried about having an expired visa. 

She said her time at home consists mostly of yard work and sleeping. She said she has found it difficult to find motivation to take online classes while in the comfort of her home.