By Yuki Liu

Correspondent

The Carrboro Defender

 

On this Mother's Day weekend, freshly-minted graduates at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and N.C. State are walking across stages, turning tassels, and celebrating with friends and family the culmination of four years of hard work. But for international students, a big question looms over the festivities: Will I be allowed to stay in the United States?

 

International students face the same life questions as American-born students: What’s next? Where will I work? What kind of life do I want to build? 

 

But the difference for students born outside the United States is the high level of uncertainty about immigration status in the wake of the Trump administration’s executive orders over the past 16 months.

 

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in January 2025 that enabled the revocation of international student visas based on previously protected speech. Executive Order 14161, which expanded grounds for visa revocation based on broad national interest criteria, combined with a proposal by the Department of Homeland Security to end the “duration of status” policy, which allows students to stay for the length of their studies, has only added to the stressors experienced by foreign students studying in the United States. 

 

The proposed DHS rule imposes a four-year limit on international students, requiring them to apply for extensions through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, increasing monitoring and vetting, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal website.

 

Uncertainty of immigration status shapes college life long before international students graduate and enter the job market. It arrives in the form of routine emails from international student services warning that a Form I-20, otherwise known as a Certificate of Eligibility for Nonimmigrant Student Status, is nearing expiration. It shows up in reminders about status requirements, paperwork deadlines and rules that can quietly determine whether a student can remain in the country.

 

For many international students, those notices do not feel routine. They feel like a countdown.

 

Later, that pressure hardens into something larger: the challenge of finding work in a system where long-term stability often depends on employer sponsorship and the H-1B visa process. By then, the stress is no longer just administrative. It has already shaped how students think about school, ambition and the limits of their futures.

 

Three international students attending UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University recently shared their stories with The Carrboro Defender, describing how uncertainty about their immigration status follows them into some of the most important decisions of their lives: graduate school,  applications and whether it makes sense to imagine a career in the United States at all.

 

The Carrboro Defender reached out to UNC-Chapel Hill’s International Student and Scholar Services [ISSS] to better understand how the school advises international students navigating their non-immigrant visa status, optional practical training —temporary employment directly related to major area of study — and post-graduation uncertainty. 

 

UNC International Student Adviser Hayley Weiner stated via email, “Unfortunately, ISSS is unable to participate in interviews or provide commentary at this time.”  

 

The students who agreed to speak to The Carrboro Defender expressed unique individual concerns, but together, they point to a common reality. For international students, the pressure of H-1B uncertainty is rarely just about one visa category or one deadline. It is a condition of living in the United States on temporary status, where years of work can still end with instability.

 

Sophia Shin, a junior at UNC from Korea, said the pressure has made academic success feel less secure than it should.

​

“I feel like I have to work harder just to be seen at the same level,” she said. “Sometimes it feels like someone with a similar GPA, but a green card would have a much easier path, even if I’ve done more academically.”

​

Sophia’s anxiety is not rooted only in whether she will gain acceptance to her first-choice law school. Her unease centers on what happens after she earns a juris doctorate degree — which is in itself an enormous financial and personal commitment — but for international students, it can feel like an even riskier investment because an advanced degree does not guarantee the right to stay and build a career in the United States.

 

The stressors and added pressures international students face ultimately change the emotional meaning of “achievement.” A strong GPA, internships and leadership experience are supposed to signal opportunity. But for students like Sophia, they can also intensify the fear of losing what they have worked for. Success does not remove the uncertainty. It raises the stakes of it, she told The Carrboro Defender.

 

Kellie Bland, assistant director of international admissions at Elon University, said international students play an important role in shaping campus life and institutional reputation, though the exact impact depends on each school’s priorities. Bland is an Elon alumna who returned to the university as a staff member in December, and her work focuses on international admissions and prospective international students.

 

“It really depends on the priorities of the institution,” Bland said, “At Elon, international students are an important part of building a globally engaged and diverse campus community. They bring different perspectives into the classroom and help prepare all students for a global workforce.”

 

Bland added that international enrollment can also shape how universities are perceived beyond their own campuses.

 

“More broadly, universities that attract international students are often viewed as more competitive and globally connected, which strengthens their overall reputation,” Bland said.

 

The economic impact of restrictions on international students​

NAFSA, or the Association of International Educators, estimated that international students studying at U.S. colleges and universities contributed $42.9 billion and supported 355,736 jobs in the U.S. economy during the 2024-25 academic year. NAFSA said those contributions come from spending in sectors including higher education, housing, dining, retail, transportation, telecommunications and health insurance.

 

Enid Wang, an international student from China currently attending UNC-Chapel Hill, said her immigration status remains in the back of her mind with every  application she submits.

 

“When I think about applying, I can’t separate it from the fact that I’m international,” she said. “There’s always an extra layer of concern about whether that will affect my future here.”

 

For students pursuing research careers, the timeline can feel especially fragile. A Ph.D. requires years of commitment, often without clear guarantees even for domestic students.

 

For international students, the calculation is even more complicated. They are not only deciding whether a program fits their academic interests. They are also thinking about whether years of training will lead to a life they are legally able to continue in the United States.

 

What should feel like intellectual possibility has now begun to feel like a gigantic mystery.

 

Bland said uncertainty around OPT and H-1B pathways could have consequences for U.S. higher education, especially for schools that enroll larger numbers of international students.

 

“If international students become less willing to study in the United States due to uncertainty around OPT or H-1B pathways, the impact on higher education could be significant—especially for institutions that enroll larger international populations,” Bland said. “At those schools, even a modest decline in interest could lead to noticeable decreases in enrollment.”

Bland added the potential loss would not only be numerical or financial.

 

“Beyond enrollment numbers, institutions could also lose the global perspectives that international students bring to campus, which enrich classroom discussions and contribute to a more globally engaged learning environment,” Bland said. “At the same time, it’s important to note that not all international students come to the U.S. with the goal of remaining here after graduation. Many intend to return to their home countries and apply what they’ve learned.”

 

Claire Yang, an international student from China attending Duke University, said the reality of permanent uncertainty has forced her to imagine a different life after graduation.

 

Claire’s story reflects a common thread among international students attending UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke who spoke to The Carrboro Defender. 

 

Sophia and Claire both described how their burden is not only logistical, but emotional and cumulative. They said it can be difficult to explain their struggles to people who have never had to plan a life around legal uncertainty.

 

It is the strain of doing everything the university asks of you while knowing that performance alone may not be enough. It is the experience of excelling in school while watching classmates make long-term plans with a sense of stability you do not have. It is the quiet realization that your future may depend not just on talent or effort, but on sponsorship decisions, immigration rules and a policy system that seems permanently in flux.

 

That pressure can reshape ambition before students even realize it. Some choose fields they believe are more practical for sponsorship. Some hesitate to invest in graduate or professional school because the future feels too unstable to justify the cost. Some begin thinking about leaving not because they lack commitment, but because uncertainty itself becomes exhausting.

 

In public debate, H-1B policy is often discussed through the language of labor markets, workforce needs and economic competition. On campuses, its effects are far more intimate. They are felt in the private calculations students make when choosing majors, applying for internships or deciding whether to pursue another degree. They are felt in the fear that even a carefully built future may still depend on luck.

 

Yet the issue also reaches beyond individual students. Bland said many international applicants compare the United States with other countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia, when considering where to study.

 

“Many international applicants compare the United States with other countries like Canada, the U.K., and Australia when considering their options,” Bland said. “Students who are interested in studying abroad typically take time to research not just individual institutions, but also the broader context of each country.”

 

She said students often evaluate more than the reputation of a single university.

 

“They often evaluate factors such as academic programs, likelihood of admission, cost, visa policies, and post-graduation opportunities,” Bland said. “Ultimately, students are looking for the best overall fit, both in terms of the university itself and the opportunities available in that country.”

 

That means uncertainty around post-graduation work pathways does not exist in a vacuum. It can shape how students and families evaluate the United States against competing destinations. For American universities, the risk is not only that individual students feel anxious. It is that the U.S. higher education system may become less attractive to global talent.

​

That fear does not begin at graduation. It begins much earlier, in the daily discipline of maintaining status.

 

As an international student from China, I personally understand what it feels like to receive emails from ISSS at UNC-Chapel Hill reminding me that a Form I-20 is expiring or that action is needed to maintain legal status.

 

Messages like those may read as administrative on the surface, but to students they often feel heavier than that. They are reminders that even the most ordinary routines of college life exist beside a second set of rules, one that can interrupt everything if a deadline is missed or the next step does not work out.

 

For many students, that feeling lingers constantly, like the proverbial Sword of Damocles dangling above their heads. 

 

Even while they are studying for exams, preparing applications and trying to imagine adulthood, there is the knowledge that their right to remain in the country is never fully secure.

 

Universities celebrate international students as part of a global campus. They recruit them, praise their academic contributions and encourage them to see higher education in the United States as a pathway to opportunity. Many international students arrive believing that if they study hard, build experience and make the most of those opportunities, they will earn the chance to stay and contribute.

 

Bland said international students contribute to U.S. campuses in many ways beyond tuition.

 

“International students contribute to U.S. campuses in many ways beyond tuition,” Bland said. “One of the most significant impacts is the global perspective they bring, which enriches classroom discussions and helps foster a more inclusive and internationally aware learning environment.”

​

She also said international students contribute through academic and campus life, while also taking what they learn in the United States back into the world.

 

“They also contribute through academic programs, research, and campus involvement, often bringing different approaches to problem-solving and collaboration,” Bland said. “At the same time, international students often gain new perspectives and skills during their time in the U.S. that they can take back to their home countries, creating a meaningful exchange of ideas and knowledge.”

 

But international students who spoke to The Carrboro Defender described a more fragile reality. The system waiting after college does not reward effort in a straightforward way. 

 

It rewards timing, employer willingness, legal categories and chance. For students who have already spent years proving themselves, that can feel like a betrayal of the promise that hard work leads somewhere stable.

 

Sophia Shin worries that merit may not be enough. Enid Wang cannot separate her academic future from immigration uncertainty. Claire Yang has already started imagining departure from the United States as a practical necessity rather than a free choice.

 

Their experiences differ in detail, but they converge around the same unspoken question: What does it mean to build a life in a place that may not let you keep it?

 

That question is not abstract. It lives in inboxes, in applications, in career fairs and in late-night conversations with friends who are trying to calculate what is realistic. It lives in the hesitation before committing to a profession, a city or a future that may never fully be theirs to claim.

 

Bland said the United States could lose more than enrollment if fewer international students choose to study here.

 

“If fewer international students choose to study in the United States, the country could lose valuable global perspectives and the diversity of thought that strengthens both campuses and communities,” Bland said. “International students often bring fresh insights shaped by their own cultural, academic, and social experiences, which can challenge assumptions and spark new ways of thinking.”

 

Without that exchange, Bland said, U.S. institutions may lose part of what helps them think globally.

 

“Without that input, U.S. institutions may miss opportunities for creative problem-solving and cross-cultural understanding,” Bland said. “Losing this could impact not only higher education, but also how the U.S. engages with the global community.”

 

For students, that loss is personal. For universities, it is academic and institutional. For the United States, it may also be strategic: a weakening of the country’s ability to attract, educate and retain people who have already invested years of their lives in American classrooms.

 

International students come to the United States to study, to compete and to contribute. Many do exactly what they are told will open doors: they earn strong grades, pursue research, take on internships and plan carefully for what comes next. But for many of them, the hardest part is discovering that doing everything right still may not be enough to make the future feel secure.

 

“I’ve seriously thought about going back to China,” Claire Yang told The Carrboro Defender. “Not because that was my first choice, but because staying here feels so hard.”

​

 

​

​