The White House has rescinded a rule that would have forced foreign students to leave the country if their university courses go online only, after being sued by several leading US universities. 

The judge presiding over a lawsuit lodged by Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Tuesday said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement would revert to its earlier guidance and allow overseas students to remain in the US even if their courses were wholly virtual.

The move to restrict the visas of international students had attracted widespread criticism from universities, business groups and large companies. Several top US universities filed briefs in support of Harvard and MIT’s lawsuit, as did more than a dozen technology companies including Facebook, Google and Microsoft.