A US federal judge has blocked a Trump administration rule that would have imposed fixed stay limits on foreign students, exchange visitors, and representatives of foreign media. Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the District of Massachusetts granted the plaintiffs’ request under Section 705 of the Administrative Procedure Act to postpone the rule’s effective date just before it was set to take effect on Tuesday.
The rule, published in July by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), sought to replace the traditional “duration of status” system for F-class academic students, J-class exchange visitors, and I-class foreign media representatives with fixed admission periods. Under the proposed rule, F and J nonimmigrants would have been limited to a maximum of four years or the length of their program followed by a 30-day departure period, requiring extensions from US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Meanwhile, I-class media representatives would have been capped at 240 days at a time. A coalition of organizations, including NAFSA, the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, the American Federation of Teachers, and others, filed a lawsuit on August 18 to successfully block the regulation.
Proposed Changes to Employment-Based Visa Grace Periods:
In a separate policy move earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed eliminating the standard up-to-60-day grace period for H-1B and other employment-based visa holders who lose their jobs. This proposal targets visa classifications such as E-1, E-2, E-3, H-1B, H-1B1, L-1, O-1, and TN. If finalized, affected workers would be required to leave the United States immediately upon the conclusion of their employment unless otherwise authorized. DHS stated that the current grace period disconnects lawful status from eligibility and aims to restore its former policy requiring immediate departure when employment ends.
