The Trump administration on Wednesday published a proposed a new rule to be effective in fall 2019 that will establish a maximum period of authorized stay for international students.
The proposed rule, published on the government website reginfo.gov says the need for such a rule is “intended to decrease the incidence of non-immigrant student overstays and improve the integrity of the non-immigrant student visa.” The proposed rule will undoubtedly unsettle US universities who are already reeling from declining numbers of international students worried that they are not welcome since president Trump took office.
For years, as is still the case unless this new rule takes effect, international students have had their visas have what is called “duration of status” meaning their student visas are valid as long as they maintain their status as students, generally understood to mean they maintain a full course load and do not work without authorization. The type of academic program they are enrolled in thus dictates how long they take to finish their degree.
The Trump administration’s new rule slated for fall 2019 will replace the “duration of status” with a fixed maximum term for F-1 students and other non-immigrant visa holders. The proposed rule on reginfo.gov does not specify how long the fixed term will be but states that there will be “options for extensions, for each applicable visa category.”
There is no guarantee that the new rule will see the light of day but it is the latest assault on international students by the Trump administration even though a new report early this year from the National Science Foundation indicated that the number of international students in the U.S. fell by 2.2 percent at the undergraduate level and 5.5 percent at the graduate level, from fall 2016 to 2017 based on government-held student visa data.
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About Tom Gitaa Gitaa, Editor-in-Chief
Born and raised in Kenya's coastal city of Mombasa, Tom is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Mshale which has been reporting on the news and culture of African immigrants in the United States since 1995. He has a BA in Business from Metro State University and a Public Leadership Credential from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He was the original host of Talking Drum, the signature current affairs show on the African Broadcasting Network (ABN-America), which was available nationwide in the United States via the Dish Network satellite service. On the show, he interviewed Nobel laureates such as 2004 Nobel Peace prize winner, Professor Wangari Maathai, the first woman from Africa to win the peace prize and heads of states. Tom has served and chaired various boards including Global Minnesota (formerly Minnesota International Center), the sixth largest World Affairs Council in the United States. He has previously served as the first Black President of the Board of Directors at Books for Africa. He also serves on the boards of New Vision Foundation and the Minnesota Multicultural Media Consortium. He has previously served two terms on the board of the United Nations Association. An avid runner, he retired from running full marathons after turning 50 and now only focuses on training for half marathons.
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