United States President Donald Trump has backtracked by restoring the student visa registrations of scores of foreign students studying in the country.

This came after his administration revoked hundreds of international student visas across the country, setting off a desperate scramble for them to exit the U.S., The New York Times reports.

Recall that the authorities of the universities had reported that over 1,500 students were being forced to leave the country, especially after their visas were cancelled in the Federal Student Exchange and Visitor Information System.

The move by Mr Trump’s administration for the deportation proceedings came after a number of the students participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza.

The terminations sparked concern and panic for thousands of students who feared that they had lost their legal immigration status and could be quickly deported.

Many who sued over the move said their schools had also blocked their ability to continue taking classes or conducting research, just weeks before their graduation.

Federal judges had also halted some of those revocations and slammed the brakes on efforts to remove those students from the country.

But on Friday, Mr Trump’s administration abruptly walked back its cancellation of the student visas, announcing a dramatic shift by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a court hearing in Washington.

The Justice Department announced the wholesale reversal in federal court after weeks of intense scrutiny by the courts and dozens of restraining orders issued by judges who deemed the mass termination of the students from a federal database unlawful.

Joseph Carilli, a Justice Department lawyer, said the immigration officials had begun work on a new system for reviewing and terminating visas for international students.

Mr Carilli explained that until the process was complete, agencies would not make additional changes or further revocations.

He added that the government was prepared to file the policy change across other lawsuits, potentially providing some reprieve for students who had sued to have their visas reinstated and remain in the country through graduation ceremonies in the spring.

Other lawsuits, including a potential class action in New England, have been filed seeking to stop the administration more broadly from carrying out further cancellations.