New Delhi: The US Wednesday announced a new proposed rule limiting the stay of foreign students and exchange visitors for a maximum of four years in the country without further screening and vetting, along with other visa types.
Foreign journalists would be given an initial admission period of 240 days, with a further extension for the same time period, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement.
However, their extension would be valid for no longer than the duration of their assignment.
“For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the U.S. virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens,” a DHS spokesperson said in a statement.
“This new proposed rule would end that abuse once and for all by limiting the amount of time certain visa holders are allowed to remain in the U.S., easing the burden on the federal government to properly oversee foreign students and their history.”
Since 1978, students have been admitted into the US for the “duration of status”, that is for as long as they were enrolled in the American system as a full-time student. However, the DHS in a statement asserted that these students have become “forever students” without any further screening or vetting.
The proposed rule would set the authorised admission and extension periods for foreign students and exchange visitors up to the duration of the programme they are participating in, not to exceed a 4-year period. The rule first proposed by the Trump administration in 2020 was withdrawn by President Joseph Biden in 2021.
Since January, The Trump administration has focused on a large-scale immigration crackdown. The new rule impacts students, exchange workers and foreign journalists who will now have to apply to extend their stay in the US.
According to reports, there are around 1.2 million international students in the US in the 2023-2024 academic year, with around 3,30,000 coming from India. There were another 3,55,000 exchange visitors and about 13,000 members of the media in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, according to Reuters.
The visa for journalists currently can last for several years. However, under the new proposals, foreign media representatives would receive a 240-day visa, before being required to apply for an extension. For Chinese nationals applying for a media visa, they would be given a 90-day visa.
The public will be allowed to share comments on the proposed rules for a period of 30 days. Earlier last week, the US State Department revoked at least 6,000 student visas for alleged “overstay” and “support for terrorism.”
Of the 6,000 visas, a majority of roughly 4,000 visas were revoked due to criminal offenses. In June, the US embassy advised all Indian student applicants to make their social media profiles public, highlighting that every visa adjudication is a “national security decision”.
The American embassy has focused on rooting out illegal means used by students to receive a visa slot for an interview, with at least 2,000 such appointments being cancelled earlier in the year.
(Edited by Tony Rai)