WASHINGTON – Part-time Canadian and Mexican college students studying in the United States will be allowed to continue taking courses until the end of the year, immigration officials said Friday. The announcement delays a policy change that would have cut off part-time foreign enrollment next week.

“It gives them an extra term,” while Congress considers whether to grant foreign commuter students a permanent reprieve, Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Bill Strassberger said.

Citing security concerns following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, INS announced in the spring that it would bar part-time commuter students from Canada and Mexico.Under federal law, foreigners coming to the United States to study cannot be classified as visitors, but they can’t be called students unless they carry a full course load of at least 12 credits.

But for years, border points like Buffalo and San Diego have made exceptions for part-time Canadian and Mexican students.

Under the new policy, U.S. colleges may not accept any new part-time students from outside the country, Strassberger said.

But students enrolled in colleges as of May 22, when INS announced the policy, will be allowed to continue their coursework, he said. “The announcement left some students who were in school at the time unsure of what their future would be,” Strassberger said.

Thirty lawmakers wrote INS Commissioner James Ziglar on Tuesday urging him to allow commuters to continue taking courses in the fall semester.

“It is in the interest of the United States to allow Mexican and Canadian students to commute to a United States educational institution and return home at the end of the day,” nine senators and 21 House members – Democrats and Republicans – wrote.

In addition, lawmakers from 12 states along the northern and southern border are sponsoring legislation that would write the exception into law by creating a new category of visas for part-time students. The pending legislation would allow new part-time students as well.

Lawmakers have said allowing Canadians and Mexicans into the country to shop or attend a sporting event, but not to take classes other than on a full-time basis does not make sense.

It is unclear how many Canadian and Mexican students cross into the United States once or twice a week for college study, but the number is thought to be in the thousands.