The Trump administration on Wednesday proposed a rule to shorten visas for international students, cultural exchange visitors, and media members, as part of a broader push to tighten oversight of legal immigration.
After taking office in January, President Donald Trump launched a broad immigration crackdown. The latest rule would require international students, exchange workers, and foreign journalists to apply for extensions rather than maintain a flexible legal status.
The Trump administration said that the proposed regulation seeks to enhance the government’s ability to ‘monitor and oversee’ visa holders throughout their stay in the US.
This rule was initially proposed by President Trump in 2020 but was withdrawn by the Biden administration in 2021.
What will change with the proposed rule?
- The proposed rule sets fixed periods for F visas (international students), J visas (cultural exchange visitors), and I visas (media members), instead of being valid for the program or employment duration.
- For foreign media personnel on I visas, which are typically issued for five years with multiple extensions, the rule would limit the initial admission period to 240 days.
- The rule caps admission and extension periods for F and J nonimmigrants at four years, reduces the F-1 student grace period after graduation from 60 to 30 days, and limits graduate-level F-1 students from switching programs mid-course.
- The public has 30 days to comment on the proposal, which mirrors a similar 2020 rule.
- The Department of Homeland Security said the rule would limit how long certain visa holders can stay in the US, ending the indefinite “duration of status” in place since 1978.
- In 2024, there were about 1.6 million F visa students. The US granted roughly 355,000 J visas and 13,000 I visas in fiscal year 2024 (starting Oct 1, 2023).
- In an August 22 memo, US Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would resume long-dormant visits to citizenship applicants’ neighborhoods to verify what it termed residency, moral character, and commitment to American ideals.
- The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking visas and green cards over ideological views and affecting hundreds of thousands of migrants.
- DHS said the changes would enable immigration officers to ‘periodically and directly assess whether nonimmigrants are complying with the conditions of their visas and US immigration laws.
- The Trump administration claimed that some foreign students have exploited US generosity, becoming ‘forever’ students by staying continuously enrolled in higher education to remain in the country.
With PTI inputs
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