The United States government on Friday said that it will not admit new foreign students for online-only courses, over a week after it revoked an order to strip international college students of their visas if their courses move fully online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“In accordance with March 2020 guidance, non-immigrant students in new or initial status after March 9 will not be able to enter the U.S. to enroll in a U.S. school as a nonimmigrant student for the fall term to pursue a full course of study that is 100 percent online,” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a statement.

Most colleges and universities in the US have not yet unveiled their plans for the fall semester. Harvard University, however, said that all its courses for the academic year 2020-’21 will move fully online.

Earlier this month, the US government faced widespread opposition from colleges and businesses for its order to revoke visas of students. Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology had filed the first lawsuit to block the order. They had called the order “cruel and illegal”.

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The order could have forced tens of thousands of foreign students to leave the country if their universities switched to online classes. The US Immigration and Customs Enforcement had said that the students must transfer or leave the country, or they would potentially face deportation proceedings. The rules applied to holders of F-1 and M-1 visas, which are for academic and vocational students.

Last month, US President Donald Trump had also suspended a number of work visas until the end of the year, including the highly sought-after H-1B visas for skilled workers.

US has reported more than 41 lakh coronavirus cases and 1,45,376 deaths so far.