Studying in The USA: How Rules May Change, and What Students Already in the US Should do Now

Studying in the USA: The United States is going to limit the period of stay in the country for student visa holders. On August 28, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published a draft regulation aimed at abolishing the “duration of status” (D/S) system. This system currently permits F-1 academic students and J-1 exchange visitors to stay in the United States for approximately fifty years, as long as they maintain full-time enrollment and follow visa regulations.

The government has now suggested imposing a four-year limit on stay, after which the student visa holder will have to request an ‘extension of stay’ (EOS) from the DHS.

Studying in The USA: How long has this status lasted, and what are the reasons behind DHS wanting to end it?

Currently, students who enter the U.S. on F-1 visas do not have an expiration date marked on their I-94 records. Instead, their stay is marked as “D/S,” which means they can stay as long as they are enrolled full-time.

Compliance is primarily monitored by universities through appointed school officials (DSOs) and is reported to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS).

The report highlights cases where students are extending their stay in the US after obtaining advanced degrees, changing programs, and sometimes enrolling in language schools.

In 2023, the projected overstay rate for F-1 visa holders was 2.69%, a significant statistic given the large number of F-1 and J-1 visa admissions to the United States.

F-1 visa admissions increased from approximately 260,000 in the 1980-1981 academic year to over 1.6 million in 2023; J-1 exchange visitor admissions have increased 250% since the mid-1980s to over half a million in 2023.

Officials have indicated that these statistics pose a challenge to the Department’s ability to monitor these visa holders. It is proposed that imposing fixed expiry dates would allow the government to assess compliance more regularly and reduce the potential for abuse.

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