NEW YORK/KUWAIT: Thousands of foreign students at Harvard University were stuck in administrative limbo and looking for alternatives on Friday after US President Donald Trump’s administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enroll students from abroad. Later in the day, a US judge temporarily blocked the move by the Trump administration, hours after Harvard sued it in Boston federal court, leaving the way ahead unclear.

Harvard currently has nearly 7,000 international students, representing about 27 percent of its total enrollment, including 15 Kuwaiti students and scholars. The Harvard Club of Kuwait, an official and exclusive alumni club under the Harvard Almnui Association, shared a message from its President Nadia Khaled AlZeabot, emphasizing the university’s global reach and commitment to educational exchange.

“This global diversity (at Harvard) is not only a point of pride — it is a vital source of strength and resilience,” she told Kuwait Times, reaffirming the club’s support for Harvard’s values of learning, collaboration and innovation. AlZeabot clarified that she doesn't speak on behalf of the university on this matter, but said that the Harvard administration is currently taking action regarding recent concerns. She expressed confidence that Kuwait’s embassy and cultural office in the US are also actively engaged on the matter.

Since taking office in January, Trump has assailed the so-called Ivy League universities, accusing them of fostering anti-American, Marxist and “radical left” ideologies. While other universities would probably jump at the chance to get more Harvard-level students, taking in swathes of them is unlikely to be easy with only three months left until the start of the next academic year.

Speaking before the US judge’s intervention on Friday, international students said they were already facing delays on their US visa applications since Thursday. One student was told by their visa interviewer that, while their documents were in order, the visa application was on hold for “additional administrative processing” due to recent developments, according to a private messaging group for foreign students seen by Reuters. They said they were told the process could take 60 days. “Everything is in limbo right now and we’re just waiting and seeing,” they said.

Abdullah Shahid Sial, a Harvard student from Pakistan who is also co-president of its governing body for undergraduates, said some students were already looking at moving to other universities. “We are trying to work with the university administration to offer active assistance to students who are willing (or are forced) to transfer to other universities – within and outside the United States,” he said in an email.

A spokesperson for the Dutch education minister said it would be “a really serious matter” if students were forced to discontinue their studies.

The Dutch government was in contact with its US counterparts, the spokesperson said. Canadians accounted for about 11 percent of foreign students at Harvard. According to LinkedIn and the Harvard Crimson newspaper, among those was Cleo Carney, daughter of newly-elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, a Harvard alumnus.

Princess Elisabeth, first in line to the Belgian throne, was another Harvard student facing expulsion. She has completed her first year, Belgian Palace spokesperson Lore Vandoorne said. “The impact of this decision will only become clearer in the coming days/weeks. We are currently investigating the situation,” Vandoorne said.

Harvard University’s links to China, long an asset to the school, have become a liability as the Trump administration levels accusations that its campus is plagued by Beijing-backed influence operations. Chinese nationals made up about a fifth of Harvard’s foreign student intake in 2024, the university said. The sharp escalation in Trump’s longstanding feud with the elite college came as tensions simmer between Washington and Beijing over trade and other issues.

“For too long, Harvard has let the Chinese Communist Party exploit it,” a White House official told Reuters on Friday, adding the school had “turned a blind eye to vigilante CCP-directed harassment on campus.” Harvard’s links to China, which include research partnerships and China-focused academic centers, are longstanding. The ties have yielded major financial gifts, influence in international affairs and global prestige for the school.

In a statement, the Chinese embassy in Washington said: “Educational exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States are mutually beneficial and should not be stigmatized.” Dismayed Chinese students feared for their international futures. Around 1,300 Chinese students are currently enrolled at Harvard, according to official figures, and hundreds of thousands more attend other universities in a country long viewed by many in China as a beacon of academic freedom and rigor. – Agencies (Kuwait Times’ Nebal Snan contributed to this report)