The Trump administration has issued a proposed government regulation aimed at tightening the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors, and members of the media. This move is part of a wider crackdown on legal immigration that President Donald Trump initiated after taking office in January.
The latest proposal would create new obstacles for international students, exchange workers, and foreign journalists, who would now be required to apply for extensions to their stay in the U.S. instead of maintaining a more flexible legal status.
The new regulation would set fixed time limits for F visas (for international students), J visas (for cultural exchange participants), and I visas (for members of the media). Currently, these visas are granted for the entire duration of the program or U.S.-based employment.
According to U.S. government data, there were approximately 1.6 million international students on F visas in the U.S. in 2024. In fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, 2023, the U.S. issued visas to about 355,000 exchange visitors and 13,000 members of the media.
Under the new proposal, student and exchange visa periods would be limited to no more than four years. The visa for journalists, which can currently last for years, would be restricted to a maximum of 240 days, or 90 days for Chinese nationals. The proposal does state that visa holders could apply for extensions.
The Trump administration justified the change by stating in the proposed regulation that it is needed to better “monitor and oversee” visa holders while they are in the United States. The public will have 30 days to provide comments on the measure, which is a repeat of a similar proposal put forward in 2020 at the end of Trump’s first term.
NAFSA, a non-profit organization representing international educators from over 4,300 institutions worldwide, had opposed the 2020 proposal and urged the Trump administration to withdraw it. The Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden subsequently withdrew the proposal in 2021.
The Trump administration has increased its scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards from university students based on their ideological views and stripping the legal status of hundreds of thousands of migrants. In an August 22 memo, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced it would resume long-dormant visits to citizenship applicants’ neighborhoods to check on what it termed their residency, moral character, and commitment to American ideals.
