US to introduce fixed stay rule for foreign students, 4.2 lakh Indians may be impacted

The United States has attracted the world's top brains for three decades not only because of its top universities, but also because of a comparatively stable visa regime that permitted foreign students to remain behind on campus for the length of their course. A new rule proposed by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) now hangs in the balance to upset that guarantee, swapping scholarly uniformity for bureaucratic timers, and along the way risking the future prospects of more than 4.2 lakh Indian students.

The DHS proposal, now pending before the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), would impose fixed stays on F, J, and I visa holders, categories that include students, exchange visitors, and foreign media. The shift, if enacted, would be from centuries of policy of granting stay by academic activity, or "duration of status."

Fixed dates, fluid anxiety

The actual issue isn't administrative; it's existential. Under the current rules, students can stay in the US as long as they're enrolled full-time academically. The new regime would substitute that flexibility for a hard cut-off time limit on their visa and force students to seek renewals, whether their studies are finished or unfinished.

Immigration.com managing attorney Rajiv S. Khanna told the TNN, "Now, international students can stay in the US provided they continue to maintain full-time student status in authorized programs. This is known as 'duration of status'. The Trump administration is eager to do this to a specific duration of stay. With their visa having an expiry date, international students would have to file for extensions periodically.". This will result in further unnecessary delays, cost, and uncertainty for the students. Considering that the processing of a typical status extension application may take months, such restrictive legislation will add to the uncertainty the international students would experience.

For Indian students, the biggest group of foreign students in the US, the stakes are even greater. An ICE report calculates 4.2 lakh Indians who enrolled at American institutions in 2024 alone. The disruption could affect not just their academic calendars but that of the broader Indo-US education corridor too.

A rule revived from the good old days

While new to the regulatory docket, this regulation is not a first try. The same initiative was initiated in 2020 under the previous administration but was unable to progress past the later stages. Its reappearance now has ignited concerns of reinstated tough visa channels under procedural cover.

Compounding the stress is the potential for the DHS to ram the rule through as an interim final rule, essentially bypassing the customary public comment period and putting it into effect on the fly. Institutions and students could find themselves scrambling to understand and react to a historic policy shift under deadline.

Unlawful presence: A legal minefield

Legal professionals caution that the impact runs far beyond reapplication exhaustion. A notable alteration would involve the calculation of "unlawful presence." Current policy does not render foreign students unlawfully present except when there is a formal finding by USCIS or an immigration judge. But with this new rule as proposed, a student who exceeds the allotted time, even mistakenly, might start accumulating illegal presence from the day following the expiration of their visa. 

Sector opposition and factual inconsistencies

US higher education institutions are mounting a strong resistance. They contend that the policy is predicated upon a hyperbolic tale of student overstays. By the way, the overstay rate for F, M, and J visas was only 3.6% in 2023, a fraction compared to other visa types.

Arriving at a moment when Canada, the UK, and Australia are going out of their way to re-balance their student visa systems to appeal for international talent, the US action can be interpreted as retreat, not progress. For thousands of Indian families making long-term plans for higher studies overseas, the new rule can bring in multiple layers of complexity shifting the balance in favour of competing destinations.

Though its final shape will not be evident until its Federal Register appearance, the underlying message is one that cannot be misread: America is rethinking under what conditions it welcomes intellectual ability.

A clock ticking on certainty

What was once a system of visas founded upon intellectual advancement may soon be regulated by expiration dates and reapplication cycles. For Indian students, who have traditionally considered the US the gold standard of college education, the proposed change means more than a policy adjustment. It is a radical departure from the scholarly bargain, one that would reshape whom to study about in America, and at what price.