Trump administration moves to tighten duration of visas for students and media

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration aims to tighten the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors and members of the media, according to a proposed government regulation issued on Wednesday, part of a broader crackdown on legal immigration.

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A new Trump proposal would cap F, J, and I visas, requiring extensions instead of flexible durations tied to programs or employment.
The regulation aims to tighten oversight of visa holders and mirrors a 2020 rule withdrawn by the Biden administration.
Critics say the move adds hurdles for legal immigrants and reflects broader efforts to restrict immigration and monitor applicants.

President Donald Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown after taking office in January. The latest move would create new hurdles for international students, exchange workers and foreign journalists who would have to apply to extend their stay in the U.S. rather than maintain a more flexible legal status.

The proposed regulation would create a fixed time period for F visas for international students, J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the U.S., and I visas for members of the media. Those visas are currently available for the duration of the program or U.S.-based employment.

There were about 1.6 million international students on F visas in the U.S. in 2024, according to U.S. government data. The U.S. granted visas to about 355,000 exchange visitors and 13,000 members of the media in fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, 2023.

The student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years, the proposed regulation said. The visa for journalists - which currently can last years - would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days. The visa holders could apply for extensions, the proposal said.

China's foreign ministry, asked about the proposed new rule for Chinese journalists on Thursday, said it opposed "the discriminatory practices adopted by the U.S. against specific countries".

The Trump administration said in the proposed regulation that the change was needed to better "monitor and oversee" the visa holders while they were in the United States.

The public will have 30 days to comment on the measure, which mirrors a proposal put forward in 2020 at the end of Trump's first term in office.

NAFSA, a non-profit organization representing international educators at more than 4,300 institutions worldwide, opposed the 2020 proposal and called on the Trump administration to scrap it. The Democratic administration of then-President Joe Biden withdrew it in 2021.

The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards of university students over their ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants.

In an August 22 memo, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said it would resume long-dormant visits to citizenship applicants' neighborhoods to check what it termed residency, moral character and commitment to American ideals.