The FAQs on this page relate to recent U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) actions regarding Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification. We will continue to update these FAQs as more information becomes available.  

For information on other recent U.S. immigration enforcement actions, see our general immigration FAQS.  

On May 22 the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced it had revoked Harvard’s certification under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) and stripped the University of its ability to sponsor F-1 and J-1 visas for the 2025-26 academic year. SEVP is the unit within DHS that administers the federal government’s visa programs for F-1 international students and J-1 exchange visitors. Harvard is among thousands of schools in the United States that are certified by DHS to sponsor F-1 visas for international students. In addition, Harvard is qualified to sponsor visas for exchange visitors through its J-1 program with the U.S. Department of State. 

The regulations that establish and govern the F-1 visa program authorize DHS to decertify a school’s participation in the F-1 program only under certain conditions and following a specific process that is prescribed by regulation. DHS did not follow that process or meet any of the allowed conditions.  

Although the Secretary’s letter also claims to revoke Harvard’s ability to sponsor J-1 visas, only the State Department has the authority to take that action. Neither DHS nor the State Department followed the process prescribed in the J-1 regulations for this kind of revocation. 

Revoking certification would ordinarily mean that an institution could not bring new students or recommend any more graduating students for the Optional Practical Training and STEM OPT training opportunties. In some cases, DHS may take the further steps of requiring current students to transfer to other institutions or leave the United States and requiring F-1 graduates on OPT or STEM OPT to stop working. 

In this case the government wrote that the revocation “means that Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J-nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic year,” but it added that “[t]his decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.”

Less than a day later, a federal district judge in Boston granted an emergency temporary restraining order suspending the government’s unlawful revocation until at least May 29, when it plans to hold a hearing on whether to issue a more enduring injunction. 

On Friday morning, May 23, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the government in federal district court in Boston, seeking to overturn DHS’s unlawful action.  Along with the complaint, Harvard submitted a motion for an emergency order to restore its F-1 and J-1 programs. At around noon on May 23 the district court granted Harvard’s motion and issued the requested court order, which reads as follows: 

Defendants, their agents, and anyone acting in concert or participation with Defendants are hereby enjoined from:

A. Implementing, instituting, maintaining, or giving effect to the revocation of Plaintiff’s SEVP certification; 

B. Giving any force or effect to the Department of Homeland Security’s May 22, 2025 Revocation Notice. 

The emergency order will remain in effect until the court has ruled on Harvard’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The court has scheduled a hearing on that motion for Thursday, May 29.

In a May 23 message to the Harvard community, President Alan M. Garber described the federal government’s revocation of Harvard’s SEVP certification as one more in a series of retaliatory actions taken against the University “for our refusal to surrender our academic independence and submit to the government’s unlawful demands for control over our curriculum, our faculty, and our student body.” President Garber condemned DHS’s “unlawful and unwarranted decision,” stating that it “imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars across Harvard and serves as a warning to countless others at colleges and universities throughout the country who have come to America to pursue their education and fulfill their dreams.”   

International students and scholars have contributed to meaningful breakthroughs across multiple areas of study that improve the lives of Americans and people around the world.  As we pursue all available legal remedies to block the government’s action, we will continue to do everything in our power to support the members of our international community.  

The DHS letter says that: “Harvard is prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status for the 2025-2026 academic school year. This decertification also means that existing aliens on F- or J- nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university in order to maintain their nonimmigrant status.” 

On May 23 Harvard requested and obtained an emergency court order that immediately restored Harvard’s F-1 and J-1 programs, so that our students and scholars may continue their academic pursuits without interruption.  

Harvard has maintained its F-1 and J-1 visa programs lawfully and without interruption for decades. We hope that DHS will come to appreciate the important contributions international students and scholars make at Harvard and colleges and universities across the country. We stand ready to describe those contributions in detail to the government, defend Harvard’s conduct of its F-1 and J-1 programs, and dispel unfounded allegations about misconduct in our international community. 

Not all J-1 researchers at affiliated hospitals are sponsored through the Harvard J-1 program. You should review your Form DS-2019 document and see if “President & Fellows of Harvard College” or “Harvard University” is named as your visa sponsor. If another organization is your sponsor, then the DHS revocation letter does not apply to you.

If you are sponsored by Harvard, then the DHS letter purporting to revoke Harvard’s J-1 program could well affect your status. But due to the May 23 court order, Harvard’s F-1 and J-1 programs remain in place for now, and the government “is enjoined from [g]iving any force or effect to [DHS’s] May 22, 2025 Revocation Notice.”

Please note we will update this answer as the litigation proceeds.

This remains an uncertain time for international students to travel to the United States.  We are advised that some of our traveling international students and scholars have been re-admitted to the country without issue, but we also believe that each person needs to assess their own risks and make the choice that is best for them, given their personal circumstances. If traveling, we always encourage people to be prepared, including: