A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposed rule to be published in the Federal Register would eliminate the current “duration of status” (D/S) policy for international students (F status) and exchange visitors (J status).
The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to add a fixed end-date to student visas when they are issued, departing from its current practice of allowing them to remain valid as long as an international student is in school.
The proposal, which the department posted in the Federal Register on Thursday, would set most visas to expire after four years—even if a student is enrolled in a longer graduate program or needs extra time to finish a degree—and would limit student visas to two years for students born in several dozen Middle Eastern, Asian and African countries.
The policy is necessary, the Trump administration argues, because under the status quo students can remain in the U.S. as long as they have documents showing that they are continuing to study toward their degree, an undetermined length of time that it says poses national security risks.
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