Ukrainian Students Can Now Apply for US Student Visas

Students from Ukraine can once again apply for US Student Visas, after the months-long travel restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.

As of August 12, the US Embassy in Ukraine has resumed applications for certain non-immigrant visas, including F and M category student visas, reported VisaGuide.World.

In addition to student visas, Ukrainians can also apply for  I-Category Visas (issued to members of the media), P-Category Visas (issued to athletes and entertainers), as well as IR1, IR2, CR1, and CR2 visas, which are issued to the Ukrainian family members of US citizens.

“As of August 12, the United States Embassy in Ukraine will resume certain nonimmigrant services, including: F, M, certain J categories (alien physician, government visitor, international visitor professor, research scholar, short-term research scholar, specialist, secondary school student and college/university student), C1/D, E, I, O, and P visas, and certain immigrant visas including IR1, IR2, CR1, and CR2,” the announcement on the US Embassy’s website reads.

Last month, the Trump administration caused an uproar among students in the US as well as universities when it strove to pass a law which would require international students to return to their home countries if their classes were held entirely online due to COVID-19 social distancing measures.

Shortly after the introduction, the plan was scrapped, however, following a lawsuit by the attorneys general of 17 US States against the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Several prominent US universities, such as Harvard and MIT also filed a lawsuit in the US Court in Massachusetts.

“We thought the original rules that were suggested were cruel and misguided and didn’t serve our universities, didn’t serve our students and frankly didn’t serve our country,”  said Rice University President David Leebron at the time.

Along with the US, several other countries have reopened their student visa application centres, including the UK, Denmark, France and Canada in Brunei, China, Cambodia, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, and India.`