The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that it will tighten stay limits for international students and exchange visitors, capping their legal stay at a maximum of four years.
“Nonimmigrant students (F visas) and exchange visitors (J visas) would be admitted for the length of their specific programme, not to exceed a maximum period of four years ,” the department said in a statement released on its website.
The final rule, it said, “officially eliminates the ‘duration of status’ loophole” that allowed foreign students, exchange visitors and others to remain in the United States indefinitely “without routine government oversight.”
Duration of Status allows foreign individuals to remain in the United States for as long as they are actively maintaining the purpose of their visa, instead of giving a fixed calendar date when they must leave the country.
“For nearly half a century, the outdated ‘duration of status’ system has compromised national security and created an environment ripe for immigration fraud,” said DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin, accusing thousands of foreign students of abusing the U.S. immigration system.
In a statement, Fanta Aw, executive director and CEO of NAFSA, a U.S.-based association of international educators, depicted the DHS decision as a misguided and unnecessary policy shift.
He said the decision would injects uncertainty, bureaucracy, and fear into a system that has long worked effectively.
“It tells the world’s brightest students and scholars that the United States is becoming less welcoming, less predictable and less committed,” Aw said.
