The new final rule from the Department of Homeland Security creates a fixed time period for F visas for international students, J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the US, and I visas for members of the media. Those visas are currently available for the duration of the program or employment in the US.

Under the new regulations, the student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years. 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 effective date is 60 days from publication in the federal register, subject to congressional review. 

President Donald Trump, a Republican, kicked off a wide-ranging immigration crackdown  after taking office in January 2025. His 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.

The latest action would create new hurdles for international students, exchange workers and foreign journalists.

The visa holders could apply for extensions, it said.

China's foreign ministry on Friday called the US move "discriminatory" and urged Washington to withdraw the new visa policy for Chinese journalists immediately.

The action "seriously violates the three-point consensus on media issues reached between China and the U.S. in 2021, and seriously affects the normal work of Chinese media in the US," ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a press conference in Beijing.

China reserves the right to take reciprocal countermeasures, Lin said.

Media rights groups assailed the new rules, with Reporters Without Borders (RSF) telling AFP on Thursday it was "outraged" over the limitations.

"This change destroys international journalists' ability to report from the US and makes it extremely difficult for international outlets to operate here at all," warned RSF North America advocacy manager Ben Grazda.

The group urged the US Congress to act to ensure foreign journalists may work freely in the country.

The Committee to Protect Journalists called the move "the behavior of a backsliding democracy," and the latest in "a pattern of deeply concerning press freedom violations from this administration."

STUDENT STIPULATIONS

The regulations prohibit graduate students from changing their "educational objectives" at any point or from transferring to another school without authorization. They halve the amount of time students have to leave the United States after completing their degree or training from 60 to 30 days. 

"Most Americans understand the value of welcoming international students and getting rid of needless red tape," said Doug Rand, a former DHS official. "This rule would do the opposite."

David J. Bier, immigration studies director at the Cato Institute, said there was no legal basis for the study and transfer restrictions in the new regulations.

"International students, many of whom will have spent years in the USA, will now have just 30 days to find an employer to sponsor them or immediately be turned into illegal immigrants. Have these people no understanding of how life works?" he added.

The department cited a dramatic rise in such visas in the posting. It said there were more than 1.8 million student visa admissions in 2024, a more than 11% increase over the previous year. 

The U.S. granted visas to more than 500,000 exchange visitors and 37,300 members of the media in fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, 2023, it said.

The significant increase in the volume of such visitors "poses a challenge to DHS’s ability to monitor and oversee these non-immigrants while they are in the United States," DHS said.

DHS said it has many examples of students and exchange visitors staying for decades on their visas.

Visa holders who want to stay in the United States beyond their fixed period of admission will need to apply to DHS for an extension or gain readmission by traveling abroad and then re-entering the United States, DHS said.

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