U.S. Student Visa Rule Caps Foreign Student Stay at Four Years

The Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule that limits the duration of F‑1 student, J‑1 exchange, and I‑visa journalist stays in the United States to a maximum of four years. The rule ends the decades‑old “duration of status” policy, reduces the post‑completion grace period from 60 to 30 days, and requires a Form I‑539 extension request for any stay beyond the limit. Graduate students are barred from changing their academic objectives or transferring schools without prior DHS approval, and journalists’ visas are capped at 240 days (90 days for Chinese nationals). The regulation takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register and is subject to congressional review.

Indian diaspora group FIIDS warned that the four‑year cap misaligns with typical degree timelines—averaging 52 months for a bachelor’s and over five years for a Ph.D.—and could force students out mid‑program, disrupting research labs and U.S. innovation pipelines. Similar concerns were voiced by the Association of International Educators and Korean student representatives, who cited anxiety among doctoral candidates and a potential shift of Indian and Korean students toward European universities. Critics describe the policy as “misguided” and fear it will reduce the United States’ competitiveness in science, technology, and higher‑education recruitment.