INITIAL ALERTWebsite
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from extensive verbatim quotation in Newsweek's December 4, 2024 coverage and the Cornell Daily Sun's December 4, 2024 article. The advisory itself remains publicly posted at the Cornell International Services alerts URL but was not retrievable in full at the time of cataloging due to access restrictions1450 chars
Guidance: Possible Immigration Changes in 2025
As the United States prepares for a new presidential administration to take office in January 2025, Cornell's Office of Global Learning International Services is advising international students, faculty, and staff to prepare for possible changes to U.S. immigration policy, including the possibility of a new travel ban and increased scrutiny of visa applications and reentry to the United States.
A travel ban is likely. The ban is likely to include citizens of the countries targeted in the first Trump administration: Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Myanmar, Sudan, Tanzania, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. Additional countries, such as China and India, could be added to the list.
If you are a citizen of one of the above countries, or one that may be added, it is a good idea to be back in the U.S. in advance of the start of the spring semester on January 21, 2025. New policies could take effect immediately on or after January 20.
Upon entering the United States, U.S. Customs and Border Protection may ask for more evidence of your connection to Cornell; for that reason, carry all of your documents (students/scholars), ensure that they are up to date, and bring additional paperwork demonstrating your purpose at Cornell (evidence of funding and certificate of enrollment or transcript).
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact International Services.
This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.
Cornell's plain-language assertion that 'a travel ban is likely' is unusually direct compared to peer advisories (UMass, MIT, Penn) that hedged with phrases like 'out of an abundance of caution' or 'in case of possible policy changes' — Cornell's wording reflects a higher institutional confidence in the threat assessment
The 12-country list explicitly named the countries from Trump's 2017 EO 13769 ban; Cornell's institutional knowledge of the 2017 precedent enabled this specificity, and 11 of the 12 named countries did appear on the June 2025 restricted list, making the advisory unusually prescient
The advisory was posted on the public-facing Office of Global Learning alerts page rather than emailed alone, allowing it to be cited and referenced externally (including in news coverage) — a publication-first rather than push-first communication strategy distinct from emergency alert practice
The instruction to 'carry all of your documents' and bring 'evidence of funding and certificate of enrollment or transcript' is a Customs and Border Protection-specific instruction that reflects Cornell International Services' detailed operational knowledge of port-of-entry inspection practice