Washington: In a fresh policy move affecting international students, the Trump administration has revived a controversial proposal to limit how long foreign students and exchange visitors can remain in the United States. The plan, first introduced in 2020 during Donald Trump’s initial term, aligns with his renewed push to tighten immigration controls and curb anti-Semitism on American college campuses.
Under the proposed rule, the current “duration of status” system—which allows F-1 student visa holders and J-1 exchange visitors to stay in the country as long as they remain enrolled full-time—would be replaced with fixed visa terms. Once the term expires, students would need to apply for extensions, significantly increasing bureaucratic hurdles and uncertainty for many international students.
Details of the proposed rule remain limited. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has already submitted it to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review—one of the final steps before its potential publication in the Federal Register.
Trump’s Broader Crackdown
This proposal is part of a broader crackdown by Trump on foreign students and unauthorized immigrants. Since taking office for a second term, Trump has targeted universities over issues ranging from campus protests to foreign funding and immigration.
Most notably, Harvard University recently faced a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze after refusing to comply with certain conditions set by the White House. The standoff led Trump to ban international students from entering the US to attend Harvard—though a federal judge later blocked that directive.
In addition, the Trump administration has launched a two-pronged plan to reduce the unauthorized immigrant population: one path focuses on arrests and deportations of criminal offenders, while the other encourages voluntary self-deportation through registration, financial incentives, and public messaging campaigns.