Several UNC Charlotte student visas terminated by Trump admin, university says
The federal government has terminated the student visas of six international students at UNC Charlotte, a university spokesperson told The Charlotte Observer Wednesday.
The affected students are citizens of India and Nigeria, university officials said, and all of the terminations took place over the last week. The termination reason has been listed as either “Otherwise Failing to Maintain Status” or “Other,” a spokesperson told The Observer. The university hasn’t received direct communication about the reason for the terminations.
The News and Observer previously reported on two terminations at N.C. State University and six at UNC Chapel Hill. While it is unclear why those students’ visas were terminated, NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson told The N&O that both international students whose visas were terminated were in “good standing,” and that the university had not received a reason for the revocations from the federal government. The two students from NC State were from Saudi Arabia.
International students are required to obtain visas to enroll and study at colleges around the United States. In addition to visas, international students are assigned records in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, or SEVIS. It’s a federal database maintained by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
If a student’s visa is revoked, they are not automatically required to leave the country. However, if their SEVIS record is terminated, they are considered “out of status” and could be subject to deportation, the News and Observer reported this week. In the case of the six UNC Charlotte students, their SEVIS records were terminated, according to the university.
It’s unclear if the students have left the country.
“UNC Charlotte has communicated with international students and scholars that we are actively monitoring SEVIS records, and we are committed to providing accurate information and appropriate referrals to impacted individuals in accordance with federal law,” a spokesperson for the university said. “Impacted students are encouraged to consult an immigration attorney and their consulate immediately if they receive notification of a change to their SEVIS record.”
The terminations come as President Donald Trump’s administration has increasingly cracked down on international students around the country and the state. The administration has particularly targeted students who may have taken part in pro-Palestinian protests on campus, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio calling for heightened scrutiny of student visa applicants’ social media.
While there were pro-Palestine protests at UNC Charlotte last year, it’s not clear whether students whose visas were revoked were part of these demonstrations.
“Historically, we have seen SEVIS records canceled due to a student’s failure to attend school or drop or flunk a course, resulting in failure to maintain 12 full-time credit hours,” Richard Herman, a Cleveland-based immigration attorney whose firm works in Charlotte, told The Observer in an email. “We are seeing the Department of Homeland Security arbitrarily and capriciously terminating SEVIS records. It must have a lawful reason to do this. In most, if not all of these cases, I cannot discern a lawful reason.”
UNC Charlotte has the third highest international student population of any institution in North Carolina, with nearly 3,400 international students. It follows Duke University and North Carolina State University in first and second, respectively. In total, NC has nearly 24,500 international students — the 15th most in the country.
The Observer also reached out to other local universities. Davidson College and Johnson C. Smith University confirmed no international student visas have been revoked as of Wednesday.
This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 2:23 PM.
