The United States has finalized new rules limiting how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the country, with the changes expected to take effect as early as September.
Under the new policy, foreign students would be admitted only for the length of their academic program, up to a maximum of four years, ending the open-ended system that has been in place since the late 1970s.
Foreign journalists face tighter restrictions, limited to initial stays of 240 days — roughly eight months — with the option to apply for extensions in similar increments. Chinese journalists, however, would be granted just 90 days at a time.
The rule change is part of a broader immigration crackdown under President Trump, which has included aggressive enforcement in major cities and new limits on legal pathways to citizenship.
The Department of Homeland Security received close to 22,000 public comments after first proposing the rules in August 2025 but finalized them largely unchanged. DHS had argued that some foreigners were exploiting the previous system to remain indefinitely as “forever students,” undermining the department’s ability to track visa holders.
The US hosted more than 1.1 million international students during the 2023-24 academic year — more than any other country — with those students contributing over $50 billion to the American economy in 2023, according to official figures.
Higher education groups have strongly opposed the changes. The Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration warned the rule would weaken US universities’ ability to attract top global talent. Many institutions have already reported declining international enrollment following earlier Trump administration measures, including mass visa revocations and the suspension of billions in federal research funding.
Media organizations and diplomatic missions, including Japan’s embassy, had pushed DHS to allow journalists admission periods of two to five years. The department rejected those requests, along with calls for expedited processing and fee caps for foreign correspondents.
