Trump restricts the length of visas for students, exchange visitors, journalists | Donald Trump News

The new law can be open-ended and requires an extension after the fixed visa period for students and foreign media.

The administration of United States President Donald Trump is imposing new time limits on visas for foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists, and ending a decades-old system that allows many of them to stay in the US for long periods of time while still in school or working.

Under a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule released Thursday, international students and exchange visitors will be limited to four years while foreign journalists will be allowed up to 240 days at a time, or just 90 days for Chinese citizens.

Anyone wishing to stay longer must apply for an extension or leave the country and apply to return.

The law, which will take effect 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register pending review, could affect college admissions programs beginning in August and September.

This is the latest step in Trump’s biggest crackdown on immigration since he returned to office in January 2025.

“For too long, previous administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to stay in the U.S. for too long, endangering safety, costing taxpayers countless dollars, and hurting U.S. citizens,” DHS said in a news release when the change was made. first planned last summer.

The government says the change will make it easier to track people with these visas.

“DHS has many examples of students and exchange visitors who stay for years in their studies or exchange visitors,” the order said.

The department said it found more than 2,100 first-time entrants from 2000 to 2010 who had a chance to study in April of this year when they enrolled in new programs, transferred schools or extended their stay in the US.

The law also strengthens restrictions on international students transferring schools or changing academic programs, especially for graduate students.

According to DHS, there were more than 1.8 million visa recipients in 2024, an 11 percent increase over the previous year.

The department also said the US accepted more than 500,000 visitors and about 37,300 foreign journalists in 2024, which ended on September 30, 2024.

“The significant increase in the number of such visitors poses a challenge to DHS’s ability to track and monitor non-U.S. nationals,” the department wrote.

It’s the latest step in Trump’s broader push to tighten restrictions on both illegal and legal goods.

In June, the State Department said canceled more than 100,000 visas since Trump returned to office last year, including 8,000 students. Most of the student visas were canceled because of their studies politics.

Immigration and university advocates have warned that the policy could make the US a more attractive place to study, teach or do research by raising costs and discouraging people from coming to the US for long-term studies.