For a long time, Isabelle (not her real name) had her heart set on a training program that would allow her to become a 'disease detective'.
After all, she describes herself as the "weird kid" who would do school projects on anthrax and Ebola.
The two-year course in investigating disease outbreaks at the US-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC) — known as the Epidemic Intelligence Service — would intake a select group of researchers annually, and it had been a career dream of Isabelle's to advance her work in public health.
While it may have been a "long shot", the 32-year-old Australian had attended Ivy League Princeton University as part of a research collaboration program last year, and had a certain amount of confidence she would get into the course.
However, after filling out a lengthy application and confirming her references, a sudden change upended everything: the CDC announced it wouldn't be taking any international applicants this year.
While at Princeton University last year, Isabelle says she saw the panic as international students were instructed to return before Trump's inauguration. Source: Getty / Rick Friedman/Corbis
"Having finished my PhD this year, it really was the time for me to take that next step and to apply for the program.
It's very competitive, so I would have totally understood if I didn't get in — but to not even be considered, it is really sad.
Isabelle sees the blocking of international applicants as a product of the "anti-foreign worker sentiment" of the US administration.
In a statement to SBS News, the CDC said it was not accepting international applicants for the class of 2026 in "alignment with President Trump's Executive Order, Restricting The Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats".
The executive order, signed by US President Donald Trump in June, fully or partially restricts the entry of nationals from 19 countries due to national security threats, although Australia is not named.
While at Princeton last year, Isabelle says she saw the panic as international students were instructed to return before Trump's inauguration. While she wasn't directly affected by it at the time, she says it's shaped her view of the US now.
"It has very much informed my plans for the future, given that it doesn't feel like it's as easy to go to the US now and do the kind of work that I want to do."
Growing uncertainty
Many Australians who were looking to live in the US have now experienced significant disruptions to their lives, with work or study plans hindered by growing political uncertainty.
The Trump administration kicked off an aggressive immigration enforcement campaign when he took office in January, backed by his Republican base.
While undocumented immigrants have been a primary focus of raids conducted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency has also arrested visa holders and permanent residents over matters such as pro-Palestinian advocacy.
Trump's 'America First' policy stance also does not look fondly on foreign workers, with the president claiming they infringe on opportunities for their US counterparts.
This is despite the profound economic contribution of immigrant workers in the US — one 2024 study from American University estimates immigrant workers contribute around 8 per cent of the country's gross domestic product (GDP).
Following mass arrests of South Korean workers at a worksite in Georgia earlier this year, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that foreign workers were still "welcome" in the US, but only for a limited period of time to "teach and train our people how to make these very unique and complex products, as they phase out of our Country, and back into their land".
Stacey Tsui, a partner of immigration at Vialto Partners, which assists skilled workers with international relocation, tells SBS News that, while there has certainly been an "uptick in concern" among Australians looking to work in the US, career opportunities for certain workers remain compelling enough to outweigh trepidation.
"Many of the world's largest companies are still based there and the opportunity to accelerate your skills in a market as big as the US is still a big drawcard for Aussies," she says.
Instead, Tsui says many Australian workers are tempering their expectations and moving to work without the expectation of considering the US their home in the long-term.
"They might be saying more 'We might go for two years and see how we go'," she says.
Tsui says the impacts of the political situation on people's life plans have been saddening, and many feel as though their options for expanding careers overseas have been limited by growing uncertainty within the US.
"You want to feel like you can get great work experience and potentially establish a career overseas – there are so many great Australian stories of people doing that," she says.
Study plans shattered
Gemma (not her real name) says she has long dreamt of studying at New York University (NYU) and was due to start a double degree there this year, including a degree at the world-renowned Tisch School of Performing Arts.
"It was my dream school ever since Year 8 because it was the only school that allowed me to study performing arts and an academic degree simultaneously," she says.
However, when she began to see headlines about the US government blocking international student enrollment at Harvard University earlier this year, Gemma says she became anxious about her future.
"Even though I wasn't attending that school, I was going to another highly regarded private university in the US as an international student," she says.
In May, the Trump administration suspended visa interviews for international students, causing a backlog of applicants.
The morning the pause was announced, Gemma was offered another opportunity to study musical theatre in London and given only a few days to accept.
She was still desperate to pursue her dream of studying at NYU, but after speaking to the US consulate in Sydney and being given no indication of how long the pause on visa interviews would last, she accepted the opportunity in the UK.
"I feel honestly so disappointed," she says.
"I think it's hard to know that I was accepted and was good enough to go, and yet that opportunity was taken away from me. Even though I love being in the UK, I do often wonder 'what if'".
While Gemma has deferred her place at NYU for the moment and there may still be a possibility for her to attend in future, she says she's unsure she'll ever be able to take it.
With the current political climate, I'm not sure it will happen — or if it's the best choice for me right now.
The Trump administration has had student visas in its crosshairs this year, with some students reporting their visas have been revoked, while others say they are facing extensive processing delays.
In January, Trump signed executive orders directing federal agencies to "vigorously" combat antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of nationwide protests after Israel launched its war in Gaza.
Two months later, immigration authorities arrested recent Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil as part of an effort to deport non-citizen students with pro-Palestinian or anti-Israel views.
The US State Department has also required prospective students to make their social media accounts public so government officials who vet visa applications can screen out students deemed to have hostile attitudes towards the US.
In August, the US State Department revoked 6,000 student visas. While the majority were revoked for reasons including overstaying and criminal offences, around 300 were revoked for "terrorist activity", which is broadly defined as acts that endanger human life or violate US law.
Expressing political views risks denial of entry
The political pressures have led to a significant drop in international students in the US.
Recent data from the US National Travel and Tourism Office found international visitors entering the US on student visas in August declined 19 per cent compared to August last year.
The non-profit organisation NAFSA: Association of International Educators estimates the drop in international students in the US could cost the economy approximately $10.6 billion.
Dr John Hart, a former researcher in US government and politics at the Australian National University, tells SBS News that US immigration officials are "doing things now that they never used to do", including searching people's phones for evidence of particular political beliefs.
"Any student who is participating in any way at all in expression of political views that are contrary to those of the Trump administration are running a risk of being refused entry in the United States — and there have already been a number of cases where that has happened."
Hart says there will be long-term consequences for the US as foreign students are refused or independently turn away from US study opportunities.
"It damages the US' reputation as an open society and one that used to place a great deal of value on international educational exchange," he says.
Currently living in Perth, Isabelle says she's unsure what she can do now that she can't apply for the CDC course and whether she'll be able to realise her dreams of further study overseas.
She has applied for a research grant in the US but says the focus of the project is health equity, which she's worried will not be accepted in the current political environment.
"It just feels like anything I want to do is tarnished with uncertainty," she says.
"The time we're living in, it's just so fragile and seems to be changing so quickly.
It's hard to really hard to plan a career and even a future around that.
