Only about 4 percent of all NCAA athletes are international students.
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After the Department of Homeland Security finalized a rule limiting international students to a four-year stay in the U.S.—unless they apply for and receive an extension—some college sports fans noted on social media that the rule doesn’t line up with the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s eligibility requirements.
New NCAA eligibility rules allow student athletes to compete for five years, starting either from the beginning of their freshman year or the day they turn 19. The new regulation would cut off that fifth year for international students unless they receive an extension. But language in the DHS duration-of-status regulation states that students will be granted extensions in the case of illness, circumstances outside their control and compelling academic reasons—which seems to rule out playing sports for an additional year.
“Given the current immigration environment, I do not believe it will be easy to get an extension of F-1 status, even for F-1 student-athletes,” Tom Arkell, an immigration attorney with Husch Blackwell who specializes in athletics, wrote in an email to Inside Higher Ed. “I also do not believe [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] will take athletics into account in their decision. However, the athletics department and institution may provide more resources for high profile F-1 student-athlete cases when a revenue generating sport is involved.”
