Warning for 2020 international applicants to Albert Einstein College of Medicine

[DRMF]

I applied for the PhD program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine this cycle, and received this email an hour ago:

"As you may know, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine is transitioning from its prior relationship with Yeshiva University to an independent degree-granting institution. As part of this transition, Einstein has applied to the U.S. government for permission to sponsor student visas. Unfortunately, at this time, the application is still pending and we are not yet able to sponsor student visas. Therefore, we will be unable to admit international students this year. We are sorry for this news and will soon be sending you an electronic Amazon gift card to defray part of your expenses."

I already have offers from schools higher on my list and have committed to a program, so the situation doesn't affect me in the least (in fact, I'm happy I'll be getting some money back). I just want to leave it here and warn future international applicants to keep an eye on the progress of their visa sponsor application, which I was not made aware of until now.