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Current international students will need to transfer out of Harvard or risk losing their ability to remain in the United States lawfully if the Department of Homeland Security’s decision to revoke Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification remains in effect.

While it is likely that Harvard will challenge the revocation in court, the loss of SEVP certification would be catastrophic for those who rely on student visas to attend Harvard.

SEVP certification, which is issued by the DHS, authorizes colleges and universities to enroll international students on F-1 and M-1 visas — the most common type of student visas. Without the certification, institutions cannot issue the Form I-20, which serves as proof of enrollment and is necessary for visitors to maintain student status.

The DHS revoked Harvard’s SEVP certification in a Thursday notice — just over three weeks after Harvard announced they had partially complied with demands from the agency outlined in an April 16 letter requesting information about international students’ protest activity.

Despite the sweeping nature of the directive, students that are set to graduate from Harvard during next week’s Commencement ceremony should be eligible to receive their degrees, according to eight immigration lawyers who spoke with The Crimson.

“If students have completed all of their graduation requirements, they should still be able to graduate, so that shouldn’t be an issue,” said Nicole Hallett, a immigration rights professor at the University of Chicago’s law school.

Harvard has not commented on how the DHS directive could impact affiliates’ ability to graduate next week or continue their studies at the University.

University spokesperson Jason A. Newton wrote that the DHS’s decision was “unlawful” and that Harvard was “fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars” in a Thursday statement.

But Bhuvanyaa Vijay, an immigration attorney at the Law Office of Johanna M. Herrero and graduate of Harvard Law School, said that unless the DHS reverses course on the decision to terminate Harvard’s SEVP certification, international students attending Harvard next year are in trouble.

“It is very simple: if the status is not reverted to original, then Harvard cannot have international students in the coming year,” Vijay said.

The revocation of Harvard’s SEVP status does not immediately invalidate student visas, according to Vijay. Instead, she said the agency is likely to give students some grace period to determine how they will respond before taking more drastic measures.

“They did not say 15 days or 60 days or two days — nothing,” Vijay said. “When we get such clients, we tell them to ‘hurry up,’ and within 15 days at best, try to transfer.”

Immigration attorney Dahlia M. French also said there will be a deadline for students to address their immigration status or transfer, though the DHS has not publicly announced one.

Students who transfer to a SEVP-certified university would be able to retain a valid I-20, and thus avoid losing their visas. But the transfer deadline for many schools falls in March, meaning students’ status in the U.S. would be in jeopardy while they wait for applications to open.

And for some visa-holders enrolled in Optional Practical Training, which enables participants to remain in the country for work up to three years after graduation, transfer is not an option, according to former vice president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Jeff Joseph.

“If you’re in a period of Optional Practical Training after your graduation and you transfer to a school, that serves to automatically terminate your work authorization,” Joseph said.

Minutes after Harvard lost its SEVP status, a federal judge in California blocked an order terminating the legal status of international students nationwide. The judge’s order convinced many that Harvard’s SEVP status was still intact, but the two cases are unrelated.

According to five immigration lawyers, the California case addressed individual students who had their visas revoked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after criminal record checks, not sweeping changes to a university’s status. The Thursday order, however, revoked Harvard’s authorization to enroll international students on student visas as a whole.

“One has to do with ICE’s authority to terminate SEVIS status,” Joseph said. “And then the other is the DHS’s authority to take away Harvard’s ability to even use SEVIS.”

Though the consequences of the Thursday decision will be far-reaching, the move is likely to prompt a legal challenge from Harvard, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Immigration lawyers say the next step for Harvard is filing a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction — a legal measure that prevents the White House from revoking Harvard’s eligibility to admit international students while the court determines its legality.

“I’m sure that they’re well prepared to file it immediately,” said Ian A. Campbell, an immigration attorney and HLS graduate.

Harvard had not announced plans to file for a TRO or preliminary injunction as of 8 p.m. on Thursday.

But even if the University requests a TRO, the protection is only temporary — and the status of international students will remain in limbo, leaving them unable to make long-term future plans with any confidence.

“When you have an administration that isn’t concerned with following laws and processes, it’s hard to predict what will happen,” Campbell wrote in a follow-up statement. “But unfortunately, it could get ugly.”

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.