In a move that has reignited debates over U.S. press freedom and escalated bilateral tensions with Beijing, the Trump administration announced Thursday sweeping changes to visa rules for foreign journalists working in the United States, slashing maximum stays from multi-year terms to just 240 days for most correspondents and imposing an even harsher 90-day limit exclusively for Chinese journalists.
The new regulation, unveiled by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), scraps the longstanding “duration of status” framework, which allowed eligible foreign journalists to remain in the U.S. for as long as they maintained their professional credentials. It will replace this flexible system with fixed-term stays, though officials note that visa extensions remain available for eligible applicants. The 90-day cap for Chinese journalists excludes correspondents based in Hong Kong and Macau, the U.S. confirmed.
DHS officials defend the change as a critical update to national security screening protocols. When the proposal was first introduced in August 2025, the agency argued that the growing population of foreign journalists in the U.S. had created new challenges for monitoring nonimmigrant visitors, and fixed-term stays would enable more thorough, recurring vetting to ensure all working journalists abide by the terms of their visas. The policy also extends the fixed-term replacement of “duration of status” to international students and temporary foreign visitors, aligning all these nonimmigrant categories under the new screening structure.
But press freedom advocacy groups have roundly condemned the new rules, warning they will severely undermine the ability of international correspondents to cover U.S. news and erode America’s global reputation as a defender of free speech. Reporters Without Borders called the shift from up to five-year stays to an 8-month maximum a cruel restriction that effectively cripples international news outlets’ ability to maintain permanent operations in the U.S. The organization added that the constant cycle of renewal applications will create a chilling effect, pushing journalists to self-censor to avoid angering the administration and having their extensions rejected.
The Committee to Protect Journalists echoed this criticism, framing the policy as a retreat from democratic values that betrays the U.S.’s self-proclaimed role as a global vanguard of free expression.
This is not the first time the Trump administration has pushed for this change. The first Trump term first proposed visa limits for foreign journalists in 2020, but the plan was scrapped in 2021 when Joe Biden took office. While the Biden administration did tighten visa rules for Chinese journalists to 90 days amid rising bilateral tensions in 2020, responding to restrictions placed on U.S. reporters in China after three Wall Street Journal reporters were expelled, it later relaxed the policy to extend maximum stays for Chinese correspondents to one year.
The decision to impose a country-specific 90-day cap comes as the Trump administration has ramped up anti-media rhetoric and targeted domestic news outlets with a wave of threats and legal action, even as it has pushed for broader restrictions on immigration across all categories. While foreign journalists are classified as nonimmigrants rather than immigrants, the rule aligns with the administration’s broader push for tighter border and entry controls.
Chinese officials have already pushed back hard against the new policy, framing it as a discriminatory measure that unfairly targets Chinese media operations. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing that the rule will disrupt the normal work of Chinese media outlets in the U.S. and urged Washington to immediately reverse the discriminatory policy and protect the legal rights of Chinese journalists working in the country. Lin added that China retains the full right to implement reciprocal countermeasures in response to the U.S. move.
The new rule will go into effect 60 days after its formal publication in the Federal Register. While Congress holds the authority to reject the regulation, such a move is widely considered extremely rare in practice. Analysts warn the new restrictions will add new strain to already fraught U.S.-China relations, even though leaders of both countries have recently signaled they intend to work toward stabilizing bilateral ties.