Coaches and international athletes grapple with U.S. visa uncertainties

College coaches and international athletes are stuck in an unnerving limbo, saying they’re unsure how to plan for recent changes in U.S. student visa policy that could potentially wreak havoc on their rosters this year.

The State Department confirmed it has stopped scheduling interviews for new student visa applicants. A brief pause would not cause problems for most college sports teams — according to coaches and other specialists who spoke to ESPN — but if the pause stretches late into the summer, it could severely impact some athletes’ ability to reach campus in time to play in their upcoming season. Early summer is a crucial window when many incoming international students typically schedule their visa interviews.

“The main guidance we’ve gotten is don’t freak out yet,” said University of Tennessee Martin basketball coach Jeremy Shulman. “But that ‘yet’ has been the key word.”

Some coaches told ESPN that as much as a quarter of their roster might not be allowed to enter the country this fall if the pause persists.

Shulman — who expects to have 12 international players this year, the most of any Division I basketball team — said he has four players who now are unsure if they will make it to campus.

“It decimates our roster,” he said.

Vermont men’s soccer coach Rob Dow won the national championship last season with 10 international players, including five starters. Six months later, Dow said his plans to bring in “three blue-chip players” could be in doubt if those recruits are unable to enter the country.

None have visa appointments scheduled. He said he’s still trying to get more information.

“It’s just a ton of uncertainty,” Dow said. “Not really sure what is consistent here.”

State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Tuesday that the pause “will go pretty quickly” once consulates and embassies are prepared. She said she expected an update in “a matter of days.”

Shulman has two recently committed freshmen who have yet to secure visa appointments. Two current players returned to their home countries to renew their visas, and they also have been unable to secure appointments. Shulman said he was “scrambling a little bit” for both his players and his program.

“We’re very concerned if we’re going to be able to get these guys even in the country,” Shulman said.

International students typically aim to complete the application and interview process well before their expected arrival date. Before the interview, they must complete an I-20, which the government calls a “certificate of eligibility for nonimmigrant student status.” Applicants also bring transcripts and other support materials the interviewer might request. People who run services to help students in this process told ESPN that 10-50% of the students they work with don’t have visa appointments yet.

A runner from Poland, who plans to compete for Texas A&M, told ESPN he is not concerned yet because Scholarbook — the international athlete placement agency that has helped with his recruitment — told him the pause shouldn’t derail his plans. He asked ESPN to withhold his name for fear of reprisal.

Others aren’t so sure, especially given the pace of recent immigration edicts from the Trump administration targeting international students. “The implication is that once they have everything figured out, they’re going to get the process back up and running,” immigration attorney Amy Maldonado said. “But I don’t trust them or believe anything they say.”

On April 22, the administration aimed to revoke all student visas at Harvard. The university sued the next day and won a temporary injunction. New plans are afoot to impose harsher visa restrictions on Chinese students.

One university international center director who spoke to ESPN on condition of anonymity said that if the pause takes a week or two, “it’ll be a minor inconvenience. If it takes longer than that, it’ll be a considerable inconvenience.”

The pause reportedly is to boost vetting of applicants’ social media posts. One Division I coach said he suggested that his current international players scrub — and possibly delete — their social media accounts since it’s unknown what the new vetting will be. Some reports say the vetting will include deleted posts.

Shulman and other coaches told ESPN it is too soon to know if visa uncertainty will force them to recruit fewer international athletes in the coming years. He termed it a “very tense and scary time.”

The pause is not believed to affect those who already have interview appointments. Current students shouldn’t be impacted unless their visa has expired and they’ve decided to travel outside the country.

Shulman said his two returning players have valid visas that expire later this year, but they went home to renew. It’s unclear why they have not been able to schedule appointments yet.

Dow, the Vermont soccer coach, said if he were not able to get those three international recruits in, it would impact the roster but suggested the deficit would still be manageable.

For other programs, he added, the deficit “might be five or six or nine or 10.”

Shulman and coaches in other sports said they aren’t enacting contingency plans yet, hoping it’s a short pause, but they can’t help but think about it.

“Families are really concerned because this is something most of them have invested a lot of time and money in the process,” said Philipp Liedgens, the director of operations for Keystone Sports Germany, an international athlete placement company. He said the recruiting process could take up to two years — only to experience these problems at the end. Some of those athletes “have no plan for anything else,” he said.

Thomas Bojanowski, the founder of Scholarbook, said he has seen a 25-30% drop in interest from future students in the past six months. Liedgens said his firm has seen enrollments for future classes drop nearly 50% in recent months.

Dow said he has been answering questions from recruits about what it’s now like in the United States compared to media reports from overseas. Universities are trying to answer as best they can. Coaches aren’t sure what to tell current players, either, when they ask if it’s safe for them to leave the country.

One Division I men’s tennis coach said he advised his international players against it.

Vermont has a trip to Europe scheduled in June. Dow said he’s still figuring out whether any of his international players may need to skip the trip because of immigration uncertainties.

Shulman said that while sports are part of this, these decisions impact them as students. Many use college athletics to get a quality education at an American university.

“These kids need and deserve this opportunity here in the States,” Shulman said of his own players. “And I’m hoping that we can get through so they get this experience.”

Last year, the NCAA reported that more than 25,000 international athletes were enrolled in schools across its three divisions. In Division I, international students comprised 30-64% of rosters in a variety of sports, such as tennis, ice hockey, soccer and field hockey, a 2023 NCAA document said.

More than 4,000 athletes come from Canada, and over 1,000 each come from the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany and Australia, according to the latest data provided by the NCAA. The international center director said Canadians should not be impacted because they typically do not have to sit for visa interviews.