While voter mobilization efforts across Duke’s campus aimed to get all community members to the polls, one section of the student population was untouched: the University’s thousands of international students.
In fall 2023, Duke enrolled 5,949 international students. Following President-elect Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, many of those currently on campus expressed concerns about their ability to apply to extend their visas post-Inauguration Day.
To attend college in the United States, international students are issued an F1 or J1 visa categorizing them as a full-time student at an accredited university. Students also have the option to work in the U.S. for up to 12 months prior to or immediately following their graduation through the Optional Practical Training (OPT) program, with a 24-month extension for students in STEM fields.
Zhanyue Chen, a master’s student in the Global Health Institute who is originally from China, worries the OPT length will be shortened, leading to restricted job opportunities.
“A lot of people are talking about Trump probably changing the [OPT] to one year,” Chen said. “We are also really worried about finding a job in the United States because the registration will be harder. [It] will be more tough.”
Students from countries sanctioned by the U.S. face further complications.
Ekaterina Grigoreva, a first-year from Russia, is scared that the annual visa renewal process could become challenging under a second Trump administration.
“It's pretty difficult for us to renew the visa [in Russia] … whereas [when] I got my visa done in Europe, the whole process took approximately four days,” Grigoreva said. “And if the new administration would change laws to do with student visas, that could affect us as well in the negative sense.”
Such changes could include more frequent background checks and rejections from obtaining student visas in the first place for incoming college first-years. According to Grigoreva, if a current student’s visa renewal request is rejected, Duke would have to send an appeal letter on their behalf. The process could take long enough for a student to miss a whole semester of class.
As a pre-med student, Grigoreva also noted the potential impact of the new administration on educational funding. Proposed cuts to funding in higher education could extend to medical school, in which case Grigoreva worries that schools may prioritize accepting students who are citizens.
With the election dominating campus discourse in recent weeks, international students also expressed mixed feelings about their representation in those conversations.
“I feel like nobody cares about international students’ feelings because they will feel like ‘This is my country, and I'm talking about how Trump will influence my right, but you're not a citizen, so you're not going to vote,’” Cheng said.
She argued, however, that international students should pay attention to politics, especially if they are planning on “applying for a green card in the future and becom[ing] a United States citizen.”
Grigoreva felt that her inability to vote caused her to be “out of the loop.” She said that the only thing in her power this election cycle was educating her friends, since despite keeping up with politics, she was unable to voice her opinion at the ballot box.
Egor Sergeev, a junior from Russia, highlighted that many citizens may not want international students to influence U.S. political outcomes.
“I’m very glad I’m not staying here for much longer,” Sergeev said. “I think one of the good ways to say it is that it’s not my circus, not my monkeys.”
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Vikram Sambasivan is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.