UMass Advises International Students to Return to U.S. Before Inauguration

The Office of Global Affairs at UMass (formerly the International Programs Office) has advised international students who are planning to travel home for the upcoming holidays to “strongly consider returning to the United States prior to the presidential inauguration on January 20.”  The office emphasized that this communication was advisory and not a mandate, nor is it based on any current U.S. government policy or recommendation.  

The advisory noted that “given that a new presidential administration can enact new policies on their first day in office (January 20), and based on previous experience with travel bans that were enacted in the first Trump Administration in 2016, the Office of Global Affairs is making this advisory out of an abundance of caution to hopefully prevent any possible travel disruption to members of our international community. We are not able to speculate on what a travel ban will look like if enacted, nor can we speculate on what particular countries or regions of the world may or may not be affected.” 

The announcement added that undergraduate international students who live on-campus will be permitted to move back in early if needed.

UMass Amherst has more than 1600 international undergraduate students, more than 3800 international graduate students, and more than 150 international scholars and staff, representing 120 countries.