Ruiyan Wang, Contributing Photographer

President-elect Donald Trump’s reelection has left many international students and scholars at Yale uncertain about possible changes in immigration policy and their future in the United States.

Trump’s swift, controversial appointments to key cabinet positions, as well as Republican victories in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, are exacerbating concerns about the future of U.S. immigration policy, including visa approvals.

“I don’t know about very specific policies, but my general impression is that the Trump government will be strict about immigrants and international students,” said Donghyung Lee DIV ’27, a scholar from South Korea at the Divinity School. “One thing I’m sure about is that I’m feeling quite anxious.”

On Nov. 13, the Associated Press reported that the Republican Party has won 218 seats in the House of Representatives, giving it full control of the executive and legislative branches. The Republicans have had a majority in the House since 2022, but in the upcoming term, they will have a majority in the Senate as well.

Tajrian Khan ’27, a sophomore from Dhaka, Bangladesh, said that this control, coupled with the Republican majority in the Supreme Court, will make it easier for Trump’s administration to change laws about immigration policy.

“I think the worst part would be the Supreme Court,” he said. “That will just give Trump’s deportation campaign more validity because his court approved it.”

However, Ozan Say, the director of the Office of International Students and Scholars — OISS — at Yale, said in a Wednesday webinar about the impact of the presidential election on U.S. immigration policy that he is not certain whether the new Congress will pass sweeping immigration laws. 

The Republican majority is slim, he said, and legislative immigration reforms in the past have required bipartisan support. Rather, he expects most changes in immigration policy to happen through executive orders and government agencies.

Vicky Cantú ’28, who is from Mexico City, Mexico, agrees that Trump will not sign sweeping immigration laws, especially due to the fine line between “good” and “bad” immigrants.

“There is no clear way for the law to determine who are the good immigrants and who are the bad immigrants,” she said. “I don’t think he could do what he wants without breaking families apart, which is not a good look for Republicans.”

Regardless of whether Trump signs stricter immigration bills into law in the next four years, Khan said the election made it less desirable for him to stay in the United States after graduation.

He said that the fact that 76 million Americans voted for a convicted criminal shocked him, and now he is unsure whether it will be safe for him to stay in the United States after graduation. He has looked up architecture programs in Singapore and elsewhere in Asia, and he is also considering going to graduate school in the United Kingdom.

“The immigration process is hard enough, and if they make it worse, and coupled with other policies from Trump that are going to come in the next few years, I could also just go to grad school in Oxford and maybe go somewhere else to work,” he said. “It gave me more freedom to pick what I want to do after. It’s sad that I’m having to consider that, but I’m happy that I’m not restricting myself to the U.S. anymore.”

However, Cantú said the election has not changed her plans about staying in the United States after graduation because the research that she is interested in is done mostly in the United States or Europe, and the U.S. is closer to her home.

Lee is worried about his future visa approvals as he has heard from his peers about “intense” visa problems during the first Trump administration. He added that he is likely to pursue a doctorate and that his post-doctorate plans additionally depend on the outcome of the next election.

“I want to pursue a Ph.D. first, so that means I have at least five or six years,” he said. “There will be another election, and I think it depends on the next round.”

During the webinar on Wednesday, Say discussed multiple scenarios about possible changes in visa policies.

Answering a question about possible changes in the approval process of the H-1B visa –– given to college-educated foreign professionals ––  to a more restrictive, “elite” route, he said as much as that sounds appealing to scholars at Yale, the policy may not necessarily be helpful.

“The actual way it might happen might mean that only the highest-paid categories get priority,” he said. “That was something they definitely proposed or were theorizing about, having a kind of tier system and giving the H-1Bs to the highest paid jobs, and that might actually not work well for some of our students who are stuck with entry-level jobs.”

Say also added that it’s unlikely that a previously-issued visa will be revoked from immigrants. He thinks the Trump administration will aim for less legally-challenged routes to limit immigration, such as deporting people at the border.

While Cantú worries about immigration policy under the upcoming Trump administration, she doesn’t think she would have felt particularly different after a Kamala Harris victory since “immigration has been bad” under the Biden administration.

“Last [Trump] term, it was mostly a lot of talk,” she said. “I think it’s interesting that people say ‘in these times of uncertainty’ because it’s not like everything would be different with a Democratic candidate. It’s not like we would know exactly what Harris would do. I feel like it’s a lot of auto-induced stress.”

Lee added that the less immigrant-friendly administration will make it more important for international students and scholars to find community and support each other, “even if reality becomes difficult.” 

He also said that the OISS has helped him thoroughly through his transition to a new institution and that he trusts the OISS to help scholars like him with any policy changes.

Say said the OISS will continue to provide timely advice and support students and scholars navigate their immigration pathways regardless of what changes the new administration brings. 

“As we have done under any administration before, we will always support our international community and do all that is possible to ensure Yale and the U.S. remains a welcoming place for international students and scholars,” he said. 

The Office of International Students and Scholars is located at 421 Temple St.