The United States Department of Homeland Security plans to place restrictions upon the flexibility of student visas, which would further complicate international student enrollment at the University of Idaho.
The further review of student visas and their powers reflect the Trump administration’s policies regarding immigration. At UI, despite a consistently increasing student body, has seen decreasing international enrollment since the start of the second Trump administration.
Starting Tuesday, Sept. 15, new academic student “F” visas will face limitations on how long an international student may stay; this is more limited than the previous rule of “duration of status.” This change is paired with restrictions upon what and where some international students may study.
A July 17 publication by DHS was paired with a press release that declared the “[elimination of] the ’duration of status’ loophole that allowed foreign students, exchange visitors … to remain in the United States indefinitely without routine government oversight.”
Duration of status is a feature of student visas which allow students to remain in the US for an unspecified period as long as they continued to pursue “a full course of study at an educational institution.”
The elimination of this rule will be replaced with fixed terms, in which a visa is valid for the expected time a student should be studying their program, and last no longer than four years. In the case that an individual does not complete their program before their visa expires, they must file for an extension of stay.
Further changes include tightening on where and what an international student may study. For example, a student may not change their major if it is their first year of study, or if they are being educated at a graduate level or higher. The same limitations are also placed upon changing one’s educational level, or if one is seeking to transfer to another institution.
A student must be granted an exception “for extenuating circumstances” before they may commit to a change listed above. The period an international student is given to depart from the US after the completion of their program has also been cut in half, from 60 days to just 30.
According to the Boston Globe, an 81-page complaint was filed in the District Court of the District of Massachusetts challenging the changes to visa policy by a group of plaintiffs comprising organizations such as NAICU, an association of private colleges (including Boston area-based MIT), NASFA, an association of professionals in international education, and unions.
They are seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the changes from taking effect. A statement from a DHS spokesperson labelled the lawsuit as “performative outrage.”
In an interview with the Argonaut, the Director of the International Programs Office, Dana Brolley stated how the changes would affect the students that IPO supports and provides services to.
“The regulation changes that are scheduled to go into effect are broader and do add a lot of pressure to the student, because there’s more restrictions … they have to ask the government to be allowed to commit to changes to their academics … If there’s a delay or you can’t get into a certain course, then it certainly adds a lot of pressure,” said Brolley.
When asked about fixed-term lengths, Brolley said, “the four-year date is something the government decided, not institutions … Does the university want to provide the best courses that take longer than an average time period, or accommodate for the government’s restrictions?”
David Galindo can be reached at [email protected]