Ololade Adeyanju/
The United States has announced one of its most significant immigration policy changes in years, introducing new limits on how long international students, exchange visitors and foreign journalists can remain in the country.
The new regulation, published by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on July 16, 2026, will replace the long-standing “duration of status” system, under which many visa holders were allowed to stay in the US for as long as they remained enrolled in an approved academic programme or continued eligible employment.
Instead, the DHS will introduce fixed admission periods for holders of F, J and I visas. The regulation is expected to take effect in September 2026, 60 days after publication, following the standard congressional review period.
The move marks the latest step in President Donald Trump’s broader immigration crackdown since returning to office in January 2025.
His administration has expanded scrutiny of both legal and illegal immigration, including revoking the visas and permanent residency of some university students over their ideological views and ending the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants.
Under the new rules, international students and exchange visitors travelling on F and J visas will generally be admitted for a maximum of four years.
Foreign journalists entering on I visas will be limited to stays of up to 240 days, while Chinese journalists will face a stricter 90-day limit.
Although affected visitors will be able to apply for extensions, they will no longer be permitted to remain indefinitely based solely on their academic or professional status.
Anyone seeking to stay beyond the authorised period must either secure an extension from the DHS or leave the United States and apply for readmission.
The department said the policy was introduced in response to a sharp rise in the number of temporary visa holders entering the country and concerns about its ability to monitor compliance.
According to the DHS, more than 1.8 million student visa admissions were recorded in 2024, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the US also issued visas to more than 500,000 exchange visitors and 37,300 members of the foreign media.
The department said the growing number of temporary visitors had made it increasingly difficult to oversee compliance with immigration rules, adding that it had identified numerous cases of students and exchange visitors remaining in the United States for decades under the existing system.
The changes represent a fundamental shift in how the US manages temporary visas, replacing an open-ended framework with fixed timelines that will require many visitors to seek periodic approval if they wish to remain in the country.
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