The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) today made available a public inspection version of its final rule to end duration of status (D/S) for F, J and I visa holders, with the new regulations to take effect from September 15.
Under the finalised rule, international students on F-1 visas will be limited to four-year stays in the US – a change widely criticised by educators and immigration experts who say it is set to cause “chaos” for students, institutions and federal visa processing.
Those who take longer than four years to complete their degree, including PhD and medical students, and students moving onto OPT, will be required to file for an extension of stay with DHS. New limits will also be placed on those changing majors.
Fanta Aw, CEO of NAFSA, the association of international educators, has called the rule a “misguided and unnecessary policy shift that injects uncertainty, bureaucracy and fear into a system that has long worked effectively.”
“This rule introduces unnecessary government intrusion into academic decision-making,” she added, vowing: “We will vigorously explore every available avenue to challenge this harmful and shortsighted rule”.
“Despite more than 20,000 public comments… that raised serious concerns, DHS has chosen to move forward with a rule that will create more barriers for global talent without making our nation safer or stronger.”
The rule will be officially published in the Federal Register tomorrow, on July 17, and will come into force 60 days after publication. Until then, current visa rules will apply.
The rule also limits J-1 exchange visitor visa holders, including many international researchers working at US universities, and international media on I visas to fixed periods of admission.
We will vigorously explore every available avenue to challenge this harmful and shortsighted rule
Fanta Aw, NAFSA
For its part, the Trump administration has said the changes will improve immigration oversight and protect US national security by collecting nonimmigrant information.
But critics argue that international students are already the most tracked nonimmigrant group in the US, and that the rule will hand over decision-making power to DHS to decide whether a student is granted a visa extension and can continue their studies.
“It should be on the institutions that set up their requirements for each program to decide whether that student is progressing towards their degree,” said Presidents’ Alliance deputy director of federal policy Zuzanna Čeplá Wootson, speaking to The PIE before the rule became final.
She highlighted that four years was often not enough time for American and international students alike to finish an undergraduate degree, adding it was “very normal” to take longer.
Aw reiterated that the rule “places life-changing educational decisions in the hands of an already overburdened immigration system – not educators, and not institutions”.
She warned it would further deter international students from studying in the US, increasingly becoming “less welcoming, less predictable, and less committed” as global competition for talent intensifies.
NAFSA has said the final rule was “complicated”, urging colleges and universities to check its information page. “Institutions will face higher compliance costs and legal risks, enrolment impacts and heavier advising burdens,” it said.
Notably, those admitted to the US before September 15 will not have to immediately apply for a date-certain I-94 form. But they will have to apply for an extension of stay in order to remain in status beyond the current documented end date, or four years from the final rule effective date, whichever is shorter.
The rule’s publication has been widely anticipated in recent months, after DHS submitted it to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in May, which finished reviewing the rule in mid-June.
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