In spring 2025, an international student at the Rhode Island School of Design student had their visa revoked. At the time, RISD students responded with a rally, calling on their school to defend them from federal actions.
A little over a year later, in July 2026, a rule capping international student visas at four years was announced by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The rule was later delayed by a federal judge on grounds of concerns about its impact on international students and higher education more broadly, just one day before it was supposed to take effect.
Yumin Wang, Director of International Student and Scholar Affairs at RISD, wrote in an email to The Herald that the program provides individualized advice and guidance to RISD’s international community and communicates updates about regulatory changes. “Given that the rapidly-shifting nature of proposed regulations may be stressful,” Wang wrote, the “ISSA also connects students to other RISD campus resources and support as needed.”
“Students are referred to an immigration attorney when their circumstances extend beyond the scope of ISSA’s advising,” Wang added.
International students make up just under a third of RISD’s undergraduate student body. The Herald spoke to international RISD and Brown-RISD Dual Degree students about their visa experiences and outlooks now.
‘This place doesn’t want me, and it makes me really sad’
Yang Yi, a RISD senior from China, is considering his options for after graduation.
Although the international student visa four-year cap was blocked by a judge in September, Yi emphasized that the situation is still scary “because we don’t know how long it’s going to be blocked for.”
Yi explained that after he graduates, he will be able to stay in the United States for an additional year through the Optional Practical Training off-campus employment authorization — a federal program that allows eligible students with F-1 visas to work in the United States for a fixed amount of time after graduating. After that year, Yi will have to either acquire employer sponsorship or obtain legal status in the United States through other means.
One of these other visa options is the O-1B visa, which is granted to “individuals with an extraordinary ability in the arts or extraordinary achievement in motion picture or television industry,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. The visa can be initially granted for a period of up to three years, and its subsequent extension is determined on a year-by-year basis.
But “it’s a very biased thing,” said Yi. “How do you qualify someone as an extraordinary person?”
Yi, who is currently studying animation, explained that in order to qualify for an O-1B visa, he would have to “try to get as much recognition as possible” through opportunities like animation festivals, galleries and awards.
While Yi knows many international students who have used this pathway, “the issue with that route … is that it is assessed on a yearly basis,” he said. “If I ever become out of commission for a year, I just cannot stay in the U.S. I can’t grow roots here.”
Yi said that after being here for four years, “I’m at a point where I can call this place home, but this place doesn’t want me, and it makes me really sad.”
Though Yi said that he sometimes wants to exercise his freedom of speech and support the causes he believes in, as an international student, “I cannot do so because I am just a lot more at risk than everyone else.”
Following last week’s midterm elections, in which Democrats flipped both the House and Senate in a historic blue wave, Yi said that he feels “positive,” but he was hesitant to express full confidence. “I don’t think it’ll get better, but perhaps it’ll stop it from going worse” for international students’ visas, he said.
After graduation, Yi plans to utilize the OPT program and then try to obtain an O-1B visa “for the foreseeable future.”
‘Freedom of speech is only an illusion’
Claire Francine Sunarto, a RISD first-year from Indonesia, has found the school to be “very welcoming and inclusive” for her as an international student.
In September, Sunarto participated in the RISD ASIA! mid-autumn festival. “We ate mooncakes and had a wonderful time. It felt like I was back at home again but celebrating it with new people and making new memories!” she wrote in an email to The Herald.
She also praised RISD’s Center for Arts and Language, which provides advising and peer tutoring in multilingual learning and various forms of communication. After meeting with the people who work at the center, Sunarto “came out more confident with (her) writing,” she wrote.
In an email to The Herald, she wrote that she is “pretty comfortable” expressing her views at RISD because “the people here are very open-minded and understanding” and “a good chunk of my class (is made up of) international students.”
But Sunarto added that she is “a bit cautious about expressing political opinions” or criticism of the government online, since “the visa application process checks that aspect.”
“It feels to me that freedom of speech is only an illusion in a country that highly promises it,” she wrote.
Similar to Yi, Sunarto hopes to use the OPT program after graduation. “Then I plan on going back to Indonesia to apply the knowledge I gained and open a product design studio and maybe an art gallery to help underprivileged artists,” she added.
‘You don’t want to stay in a place that doesn’t want to treat you properly’
A BRDD student, who was granted anonymity due to concerns about their visa status, told The Herald that the Trump administration has created a new sense of fear for international students.
After the midterm election results, the student said they felt “super relieved.”
“The visa uncertainty and fear is always tied to the political uncertainty and fear,” they said. “You don’t want to stay in a place that doesn’t want to treat you properly.”
“The fact that Americans gave the Democrats more power I think is more relief for us,” they added.
The student referenced recent proposals under the Trump administration that would impact international students if implemented, including new fees on the OPT program and a $100,000 H-1B visa fee that was blocked by multiple federal judges earlier this year.
After completing their undergraduate degree, the student plans to work in the United States for three years, using the extension that individuals doing STEM-related work get with OPT. But they added that “if the Trump administration was running unchecked” after they graduated, their job opportunities could be limited.
Following the cancellation of a RISD international student’s visa and amid the presence of federal immigration enforcement agents in Providence during 2025, the student said that they stopped driving for a period of time out of concern that a minor traffic violation could endanger their visa status.
“That period of time was super, super worrying,” they said. Although visa cancellations and the presence of immigration enforcement agents have “died down a lot,” the student said they still do not feel comfortable publicly expressing their political views.
“I’m very careful about sharing anything on social media,” they said, noting that immigration officers ask for social media handles in visa applications.
The student said that they still post about issues in their own home country, but nothing about America or “against the administration.” They added they would never attend a protest out of fear of deportation.
This produces the feeling of “a certain level of powerlessness,” they said.
“You want to be able to show your support. You want to be able to stand up for what’s right,” they added. But “if I’m not part of this country, then I don’t really expect to have a voice in what this country does in the first place.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
As an international student in both the Brown and RISD communities, the student said that students are experiencing similar things at the two schools. They did note that RISD students are less likely to qualify for three-year OPT programs because non-STEM students are only eligible for the one-year program. They added that certain RISD majors, such as graphic design and industrial design, can qualify for the STEM OPT extension.
Rachel Wicker is a senior staff writer covering affinity and identity. She is from Athens, Georgia and plans on concentrating in English on the nonfiction track and International and Public Affairs. Outside of writing, she enjoys reading books of any genre and doing yoga.
Izabella Piatkowski is a senior staff writer covering the Rhode Island School of Design.
