UCLA paused some international students’ work authorizations over the summer following federal scrutiny, which students said could impact their academic and professional success.

The UCLA Dashew Center for International Students and Scholars paused curricular practical training authorizations – which allow students on F-1 visas to temporarily work off campus in a field related to their degree – after it received an Aug. 12 memo from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE threatened to withdraw universities’ certification to enroll exchange and international students if they approve CPT to create employment opportunities not required for students’ degrees.

International students should solely be enrolled to attend school full time, ICE said in the memo.

[Related: UCLA pauses some international students’ work authorizations after ICE memo]

“Doing an internship is a core part of the experience of studying in the U.S.,” said a chemical engineering doctoral student from India whose CPT was paused. “That is being stripped away from international students.

The chemical engineering student, who was granted anonymity because of fear of retaliation from the federal government, said they lost sleep after learning that they could not extend their internship at semiconductor company Applied Materials. The internship taught them techniques to expand their dissertation research, they added.

The chemical engineering student said they were disappointed with UCLA’s response to the the ICE memo. The Dashew Center’s lack of communication has left many international students feeling uncertain, they added.

“There was no support, no information, or what they are doing about this – nothing,” the chemical engineering student said.

The Dashew Center indefinitely suspended the review of CPT applications Sept. 8 except for students whose degrees require work experience or whose applications were approved before Aug. 12, according to its website.

The Dashew Center referred the Daily Bruin to its website when asked for comment on students’ concerns.

Suspending off-campus internships could make international students less competitive for graduate programs and professional opportunities, said Jack Feng, an international student and the Graduate Students Association’s external vice president. Feng can no longer pursue an off-campus internship because of the pause on CPT authorizations, he added.

International students can still work on campus or pursue optional practical training authorization, which allows them to work temporarily in a field related to their studies after one year of full-time enrollment. However, OPT applications can take months to process and require hundreds of dollars in fees because they must be filed directly through U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, according to the Bechtel International Center at Stanford University.

“We’re living through a crisis of living affordability,” said Feng, an epidemiology doctoral student. “Given the limitations on how internationals can make income to help make ends meet, I think there will be very significant consequences.”

United Auto Workers Local 4811 – which represents more than 60,000 UC academic student employees, graduate students and academic and postdoctoral researchers – will continue pushing the University to better support international students, said Maria Spear, a member of the union and an international student, in an emailed statement. International students make up nearly half of UAW Local 4811.

“UAW 4811 members and the UCLA community have spent nearly two years calling on the administration to stand up to Trump,” Spear said in the statement. “The news that they’ve chosen to comply with ICE and freeze work authorization for some international students proves that they still haven’t fully gotten the message.”

Feng said he expects to see a continuing decline in international students’ enrollment as they feel increasingly unwelcome in the U.S. Enrollment of new international students across 825 universities declined by 17% in the 2025-26 school year, according to the Institute of International Education, a nonprofit that researches trends in international student enrollment.

“Any new student who’s planning to come to the U.S., it’s going to kill their dreams,” the chemical engineering student said.