KATHMANDU: The United States government dropped its controversial decision to revoke visas of international students in the US whose courses move fully online coming fall due to coronavirus pandemic.

Read also: Nepali students in US may be forced to come home as US bars foreign students from taking online lessons

US District Judge Allison Burroughs announced the decision at the start of a hearing in a federal lawsuit in Boston brought by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The reversal came after dozens of universities and colleges including Harvard, MIT sued Trump administration to protect International students that were in jeopardy of being deported.

The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 6 had brought the regulations that required international college students to leave the US unless they are enrolled in at least one face-to-face class.

The decision, if enforced, would have forced millions of international students including thousands of Nepali Students to leave the US or find other colleges that provide physical classes at a time when increasing number of colleges are going online amid this pandemic.

Read also: US Department of State claims international students welcome in the US

According to 2019-Open Doors Report on ‘International Educational Exchange’ released by the Institute of International Education and the US Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, Nepal ranks 12th in both undergraduate and graduate students in the US, totaling to 13,229.