Visa 2026: US Judge Blocks Trump Rule That Would Limit Foreign Students
- A federal judge in Boston ruled against a Department of Homeland Security policy on foreign student and journalist visas just one day before it was due to take effect
- The DHS rule would have capped F and J visas at four years and limited journalist I visas to 240 days, affecting over 2 million visa holders
- Judge Saylor warned the rule could cause catastrophic damage to US higher education and the broader economy if allowed to stand
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A federal judge in Boston has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing a new immigration rule that would have placed strict time limits on how long foreign students and journalists are allowed to stay in the United States.
US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued the ruling on September 15, one day before the Department of Homeland Security's policy was due to come into force.
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The judge sided with a coalition of trade unions and higher education groups that had challenged the rule in court.
According to Al Jazeera, Saylor found that DHS had based the policy on "exceptionally weak" reasoning. Although the agency justified it on grounds of national security and visa fraud prevention, the judge ruled that DHS had failed to meet its legal obligations — it had not properly engaged with objections to the policy or considered less burdensome alternatives.
What the blocked rule would have changed
Under the DHS rule, adopted in July, F visas for international students and J visas for cultural exchange participants would have been capped at four years. I visas for foreign journalists, which currently have no fixed end date, would have been limited to 240 days. About 1.6 million people currently hold F visas, and a further 500,000 hold J visas.
Saylor, appointed by Republican President George W. Bush, noted that the rule would have dismantled a system in place for nearly five decades, under which foreign students and researchers were admitted for the "duration of status" rather than a fixed period.
That system, he wrote, had brought tens of millions of students and researchers to the US, producing "groundbreaking research in science, medicine, and technology, substantial economic growth, and a host of other benefits, often on a vast scale."
The judge warned that if the rule had taken effect, major research institutions such as Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both of which depend heavily on international students at the graduate level, could have faced hundreds of millions of dollars in losses. "The damage to the higher education system and to the economy of the United States is likely to be catastrophic," Saylor wrote.
DHS pushes back on the decision
DHS General Counsel James Percival rejected the ruling, saying it would force US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to "permit this rampant abuse of our immigration system." He argued the policy was needed to address situations where people arrived on student visas and stayed for decades without meaningful academic engagement.
Miriam Feldblum, head of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, one of the plaintiffs in the case, welcomed the outcome. "While the case continues, this relief preserves the longstanding system that enables our colleges and universities — and our country — to attract, educate, and retain global talent," she said.
US issues warning to new visa holders
Legit.ng earlier reported that the United States government has issued a formal warning to immigrant visa holders, outlining critical steps they must follow after receiving their visa and before arriving in the country.
Source: Legit.ng
