Trump suggests green cards for international students, team adds vetting caveats

In the All-In podcast hosted by a group of Silicon Valley technology investors, Trump was pushed on the issue of American companies being able to retain more high-skilled foreign workers and promised to take action on the issue on “day one” if elected.

“What I want to do and what I will do is, you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country,” said Trump. “And that includes junior colleges too, anybody graduates from a college. You go there for two years or four years.” Green cards allow individuals to live and work permanently in the USA.

He spoke of international graduates from top colleges that wanted to stay in the USA and had plans for a company but then had to go back home.

“They go back to India; they go back to China. They do the same basic company in those places, and they become multi-billionaires who hire thousands and thousands of people, when it could have been done here,” he said. “You have to be able to recruit these people and keep these people.”

However, after the interview the Trump campaign team issued a statement to the New York Times clarifying some limitations on the proposed policy.

“President Trump has outlined the most aggressive vetting process in U.S. history, to exclude all communists, radical Islamists, Hamas supporters, America haters and public charges.

“He believes, only after such vetting has taken place, we ought to keep the most skilled graduates who can make significant contributions to America. This would only apply to the most thoroughly vetted college graduates who would never undercut American wages or workers.”

The green card for graduates policy would be something of a departure from Trump’s first term as President, when one of his first actions was to introduce a travel ban on all visitors from certain countries. Although subsequent exemptions were made for student visa holders after legal challenges, the policy was cited as impacting on student recruitment and wider perceptions of the USA as a welcoming study destination.

During the Presidency, there were also hostile comments towards the Optional Practical Training (OPT) scheme of post-study work rights and the H-1B skilled worker visa, which some international students attempt to use as a stepping stone to a green card, as well as the introduction of an ‘unlawful presence’ policy on student visa overstays, which was later blocked by courts.

Commenting on the latest green card proposals, the Biden campaign Spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Reuters, “Trump’s empty promise is both a lie and an insult, especially to the countless people that have been permanently damaged by his first term in office.”

In the lead-up to the last Presidential election in 2020, President Biden proposed that PhD graduates should receive a green card and bypass the H-1B lottery system, but such a policy has not yet been initiated.

During the Biden presidency, the Departments of State and Education have issued a joint statement on renewed commitment to international education, and international education has been included in the US International Trade Administration’s National Export Strategy for the first time.

Nonetheless, international education industry stakeholders have called on the government to go further to increase the attractiveness of the USA as a study destination and have lobbied for a White House-backed international education strategy. The U.S. Coalition for Success organization was launched last year by associations and other industry organizations to coordinate national lobbying for sector-friendly policies.