In a sweeping policy shift announced Thursday, the second Trump administration will end a nearly 50-year-old immigration provision by imposing strict fixed-duration stay limits on non-immigrant visa holders including international students, cultural exchange participants and foreign journalists.
The final amended rule, released by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), replaces the long-standing “Duration of Status (D/S)” admission system that allowed F-class student visa holders and J-class exchange scholar visa holders to remain in the U.S. for the full duration of their academic programs or exchange appointments, regardless of how long that took. Under the new framework, all F, J, and I-class journalist visa holders will only receive fixed-period admission capped at a maximum of four years total.
Additional restrictions in the rule bar graduate students from changing their academic goals or transferring to a new institution without explicit government approval. It also cuts the post-program grace period that allows visa holders to wrap up their affairs and depart the country from 60 days to just 30 days. For journalists holding I visas, the caps are far stricter: most are limited to 240-day stays, while Chinese journalists face an even shorter limit of 90 days.
DHS officials justified the overhaul, arguing the 1978-era D/S policy had become outdated, was regularly abused for immigration fraud, and posed unacceptable risks to U.S. national security. “By implementing clear, finite limits on these visas, the United States is reclaiming its ability to properly screen, vet, and monitor individuals within our borders,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement. “This final rule ensures that foreign students remain focused on their primary purpose: completing their studies and returning home.”
China swiftly condemned the new restrictions Friday, with Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian calling on the U.S. to immediately reverse the discriminatory policy targeting Chinese journalists. Lin noted that Washington’s new barriers to people-to-people exchanges offer no benefit to either country, and confirmed China retains the full right to implement reciprocal countermeasures in response to the move.
Within U.S. academic communities, the policy change has already triggered widespread chaos, anxiety, and uncertainty among the more than 1.1 million international students and 220,000 international scholars currently residing in the U.S. Lihua He, an immigration attorney based in California’s San Francisco Bay Area, told China Daily her office has been inundated with hundreds of calls and emails from visa holders desperate to secure information about how to maintain their legal status.
While the DHS rule does allow students and scholars in good standing to apply for extensions to complete their programs, there is no guarantee extensions will be approved. “It creates uncertainty for the future of international students, and became an emotional burden for their families,” He explained.
Jade Wen, who works in the international student services office at a San Francisco community college, said she has also been flooded with inquiries from panicked students. “They are very concerned about deportation or removal from the United States if they can’t finish their degree as scheduled,” Wen said.
Russell Jeung, a professor of Asian American Studies at San Francisco State University, argued the new rule is part of a broader pattern of escalating anti-immigrant policy pushed by the Trump administration, which has framed restrictive measures as necessary to protect U.S. national security and advance its “America First” agenda. Jeung called the restrictive visa framework an extension of long-running racial exclusion policies targeting Asian and non-Western visitors to the U.S.
The new rule is scheduled to enter into force on September 15, and will undergo a mandatory congressional review period before taking full effect.