The American Immigration Council is a non-profit, non-partisan organization. On July 17, 2026, the Trump administration unveiled the latest move in its broader efforts to reshape America’s legal immigration system. This time, it was a regulation that will lead to the greatest changes in the student visa process in 50 years, as well as changes to visas for foreign exchange visitors and for members of the international media. The new regulation is set to go into effect on September 15, unless blocked in court.
The biggest change in the rule is to limit the period of stay in the United States for international students in F status, exchange visitors in J status, and international journalists in I status. Currently, individuals granted visas in these categories can be admitted to the United States and remain for the “duration of status” — however long it takes to complete the purpose for which they got the visa. Similarly, before this rule, if USCIS approved a change of status to one of these categories for a noncitizen already in the United States, the period of stay would have been for duration of status.
For foreign students, duration of status means a person didn’t have to receive an extension from USCIS in order to finish their education, which could include graduating from their undergraduate institution and then transitioning to post-graduate optional practical training or to graduate school, or pursuing a second degree. For international journalists, that could mean living in the United States indefinitely while covering U.S. news for a paper back home. And for researchers on a J visa, that could mean staying here until their research project is complete.
What does the new rule change?
Under the new rule, these duration of status admissions are being eliminated. After September 15, 2026, foreign students and exchange visitors will be limited, based on their program length, to the end date of their specific program, or four years, whichever is shorter, plus a grace period of 30 days (down from 60 days for F-1 students under the previous rules), to depart the United States, apply for an extension if their program end date is more than four years, or pursue a different option to remain in the United States.
For international journalists, any person entering the United States after September 15, 2026, will admitted for the length of their project in the United States, or a maximum of 240 days, whichever is shorter (for journalists from China, the maximum period will be 90 days).
These dates also apply to any dependents, such as children or spouses, who accompany the person to the United States.
While people in the United States in F, J, or I status on September 15, 2026, do not have to take any action, they become subject to the deadlines, including the time limits. So, for example, an F-1 student who is in the United States on September 15, 2026, with three years left of their undergraduate program, and no eligibility for post-graduate optional practical training, would be limited to their program end date, plus the current 60-day grace period for F-1s.
If students, journalists, and exchange visitors want to stay in the country longer, then they will have to apply for an extension of status with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). International journalists will only be eligible for additional extensions limited each time to a 240 day maximum (90 days for journalists from China), while foreign students and exchange visitors will be able to extend their status to whatever the new end date for their program is or up to four years, whichever date is earlier, plus the 30-day grace period.
Importantly, extension of status requests are not free. Students, exchange visitors, or journalists seeking to stay in the United States longer will have to pay at least $420 each time they seek an extension of stay, adding to the costs of coming to the United States.
Beyond limiting the validity period of their admission, the new rule also makes significant changes to the processes for foreign students in particular. Students will now face substantially greater red tape and bureaucracy when seeking to change majors or transfer to another school.
Under the new regulation, foreign students seeking an undergraduate degree are largely banned from changing majors or transferring to another school in their first year, without exceptions that can only be granted by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in “extenuating circumstances.” DHS has made clear that the “extenuating circumstances” exception is supposed to be used only for “rare, exceptional events,” such as a natural disaster or a school shutting down.
For foreign graduate students, the rules are even more strict; they will not be permitted to change their “educational objective” at all. Graduate students’ only option if they seek to shift the purpose of their graduate program would be to transfer to another school, something that is also restricted to the case of “extenuating circumstances.”
On top of these limitations, students who graduate from a program will be banned from seeking to stay in the United States and pursue another degree, unless that degree is at a “higher educational level.” That means an undergraduate student who gets a bachelor’s degree in business could not seek to remain in the United States by enrolling in a program to seek a bachelor’s degree in math; they would only be permitted to remain if they seek to enroll in a graduate degree program.
Importantly, DHS has not yet defined exactly what the “educational levels” mean for professional degrees. For example, is a J.D. at the same, higher, or lower level than a master’s degree? Is an M.D. at the same, higher, or lower level than a Ph.D.? None of these questions are directly answered by the new rule. DHS notes in the rule that it expects to issue guidance on this point.
Crucially, DHS says that these broader restrictions on transfers and changing of degrees may be delayed up to two years if they prove difficult to implement in the short term.
The rule also makes a number of smaller changes to these visa categories which are not as consequential. For example, the rule institutes a new definition of an international media organization which may require foreign journalists to submit more paperwork in order to obtain USCIS approval. Helpfully, organizations which focus on international visas have already compiled comprehensive explainers on the new rule for impacted individuals.
What are the broader impacts of these rule changes?
Today, there are hundreds of thousands of foreign students studying at American institutions of higher education. These students are estimated to contribute roughly $43 billion a year into the U.S. economy through their tuition payments and other expenses paid while living here, and they support up to 355,000 jobs a year. However, broader efforts by the Trump administration to limit legal immigration have had a toll on the number of people interested in coming to the United States to study here. Since Trump took office, the number of international students seeking to come to the United States fell by 20 percent in total, and 24 percent at U.S. graduate programs.
The new rule does not expressly prevent any students from coming to the United States, but the additional red tape and costs may serve to drive even more students away. Most foreign students pay full tuition, helping to subsidize tuition assistance programs to American citizens. Should the number of students continue to fall, Americans may see higher tuition prices and economic struggles at colleges and universities around the country.
America’s outdated legal immigration system is already causing some of the world’s best and brightest to seek out other countries where the immigration process is not as complicated, backlogged, and expensive. While the Trump administration claims that these rules will help reduce fraud, any marginal benefit may be wiped out by the broader loss of talent that seeks out the United States.
Beyond foreign students, the changes to exchange visitors and members of the international media will again send the message that the United States is not the country it once was. Increasingly, the Trump administration is sending the message to people around the world that the United States will barely tolerate immigrants and force them to jump through as many hoops as possible to get permission to stay.
