Trump Proposes Limiting Foreign Students to Four-Year Stays (2)

Foreign students and exchange visitors would be limited to fixed periods of stay in the US before they must apply to extend their legal status, under a new Department of Homeland Security proposed rule.

F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors would be restricted to a maximum stay of four years, according to the proposal released Wednesday. Under current rules, those visa holders can generally remain in the US as long as they’re pursuing a full time course of study and otherwise complying with the terms of their visa, an open-ended period termed “duration of status.”

The proposal revives a DHS initiative from the final months of the first Trump administration that was opposed by both higher education and health-care organizations. It poses new potential hurdles for the pursuit of postgraduate employment or completion of degrees for students who don’t finish studies in the expected time period.

Although the proposed regulation was widely expected to be re-introduced, it follows a series of other moves by the administration that have buffeted international enrollment at US colleges.

Thousands of F-1 students earlier this year saw their lawful status terminated and visas revoked without notice over appearances in a federal law enforcement database. And a multi-week freeze in visa interviews added uncertainty that many others would be on campus in the fall. A higher education group has already projected a steep drop in foreign students attending US schools next year.

The new proposal would also apply to representatives of foreign media admitted through the I visa classification.

Oversight

The volume of student and exchange visa holders creates oversight challenges and their open-ended admission “has created incentives for fraud and abuse,” DHS said in the proposed regulation. It also said the duration of status framework creates national security vulnerabilities, highlighting cases of espionage by some students connected to the Chinese Communist Party.

Requiring them to apply for an extension of status after four years would help address risks that some exploit the programs to live in the US long-term, the agency said. The proposal identified 2,100 student visa holders who entered the US between 2000 and 2010 who remain on F-1 status.

More than 1.1 million F-1 students were enrolled in bachelor’s or master’s degree programs in 2024, according to data from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Nearly 215,000 were pursuing doctoral degrees last year.

International students are already the most closely monitored nonimmigrant population in the US thanks to monitoring through the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System, a DHS database updated by school officials, said Zuzana Čeplá Wootson, deputy director of federal policy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. The proposal adds to measures making it less certain foreign students who enroll in US colleges will be able to complete their studies or training, she said.

“With all this uncertainty, they may choose to go somewhere else,” Wootson said. “That harms the US economy as well as our research and innovation.”

The proposal would restrict the options of temporary visa holders during their admission to the US. F-1 students pursuing graduate degrees, for example, would be prohibited from changing programs. They’d also be limited to just 30 days from the current 60-day timeline to leave the US after completing their studies or post-graduate training.

Language training students would be limited to 24-month admission periods under the proposal. And a delay in completing a program generally wouldn’t be considered an acceptable reason for an F-1 student to seek an extension unless a student could point to a compelling academic reason, documented illness, or circumstances beyond their control.

F, J, and I visa holders would also be required to submit biometric information such as fingerprints when applying for an extension of status.

Previous Pushback

There are legitimate oversight concerns about whether some visa holders continuously enroll in new degree or language programs without intending to leave the US, said Leon Fresco, a partner at Holland & Knight LLP and former deputy assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice’s Office of Immigration Litigation.

But he said the proposal could hamper approval for Optional Practical Training, a postgraduate employment option that allows students to work in the US up to three years after finishing a degree. Many foreign graduates use that option to start careers while seeking H-1B specialty occupation visas. The rule would offer an automatic 240-day extension period if an application is still pending when their admission period expires.

The proposal could also lead to objections that the maximum admission period doesn’t reflect the typical time it takes for foreign or US college students to finish a college degree, Fresco said.

“Why would a foreign student get less time than the average US student?” he said.

DHS estimated it will receive 205,000 extension of stay requests each year from F-1 visa holders alone. The agency projected $76 million in new costs for time and labor of school officials helping to process such requests.

The 2020 Trump administration proposal received more than 32,000 public comments, including feedback from academic groups that the rule didn’t reflect the reality of students’ experience.

While most international students complete degrees faster than US students, for example, the typical time for completion of a bachelor’s degree is close to five years. Medical groups warned that requirement would likely disrupt the medical training programs of J-1 physicians.

The Biden administration withdrew the first fixed status proposal in 2021 along with a slate of other Trump regulations that hadn’t taken effect.

F and J visa holders present in the US on the proposed rule’s effective date would be allowed to stay for up to four years without applying for an extension of status.

DHS will accept public comments for 30 days on the new proposal after it is published in the Federal Register Aug. 28.