WASHINGTON, July 16 — The Trump administration has moved to tighten the duration of visas for foreign students, cultural exchange visitors and journalists, according to a government notice.
The new final rule from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Thursday establishes fixed time periods for F visas for international students, J visas that allow visitors in cultural exchange programmes to work in the United States (US), and I visas for members of the media. Those visas are currently available for the duration of the program or US-based employment.
The effective date is 60 days from publication in the federal register, subject to Congressional review.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January 2025. The latest action would create new hurdles for international students, exchange workers, and foreign journalists.
The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards of university students over their ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Under the new regulation, the student and exchange visa periods would no longer exceed four years. The visa for journalists — which can currently last for years — would be limited to 240 days or, for Chinese nationals, 90 days.
The DHS added that visa holders could apply for extensions.
It cited a dramatic rise in such visas in the posting, with over 1.8 million student visa admissions in 2024, a more than 11 per cent increase over the previous year.
The US granted visas to more than 500,000 exchange visitors and 37,300 members of the media in fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, 2023.
The DHS noted that the significant increase in the volume of such visitors "poses a challenge to DHS’s ability to monitor and oversee these nonimmigrants while they are in the United States".
The department stated that it has many examples of students and exchange visitors staying for decades on their visas.
Visa holders who want to stay in the US beyond their fixed period of admission will need to apply to DHS for an extension or gain readmission by travelling abroad and then re-entering the US.
