Policy tightening raises concerns

As the US celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the country is guarding its door more tightly.

A new policy, poised to take effect soon, will fundamentally reshape how international students on F-1 visas and exchange scholars on J-1 visas are admitted into the US.

In mid-June, the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of a Department of Homeland Security proposal that would replace the current "Duration of Status" system with fixed admission periods for F-1 students and J-1 visitors.

The new policy is expected to be published in the Federal Register in short order and will become effective 60 days after it is published.

For almost half a century, with policy modifications finalized in the early 1990s, F-1 students and J-1 visitors could remain in the US with no fixed departure date for as long as they were enrolled in an academic program.

Under the new rule, international students will be given a specific end date aligning with the academic program length or four years, whichever is shorter. For longer programs, the students are required to file an extension of stay.

In addition, F-1 undergraduate students will be barred from changing their major or transferring to another college in their first year. They will be unable to pursue another major at an equal or lower educational level after graduation.

Charles Foster, vice-chair of the George H. W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations and an accomplished immigration lawyer, told China Daily that this new policy is "both unnecessary and overly restrictive" and the restrictions on F-1 students' ability to change majors or universities are "nonsensical".

To Foster, the proposed changes create unnecessary layers of complications, are likely to cause further delays in an already complicated and restrictive legal system for F-1 and J-1 visas, and introduce "the possibility of students going out of lawful status".

Rosie Levine, executive director of the US-China Education Trust, agreed that the new policy "introduces more bureaucracy and hurdles" for F-1 students.

"The new rules may correct for the small number of individuals who abuse current student visa policies, but they will certainly impact a far greater pool of compliant students, adding bureaucracy and administrative burden to both students and institutions," Levine said.

She said it's well documented in surveys that international students largely want to stay in the US after graduation — 77 percent expressed such intent, though only 46 percent managed to do so due to the H-1B cap, costs and the time limit of Optional Practical Training authorization.

'Massive contribution'

"International students contribute massively to the US economy: roughly one in four US billion-dollar startups have been founded by former international students," Levine said. "The US education exports remain the nation's top services export to China, supporting more American jobs than any other single US export to China — over 143,000 jobs."

Foster also sees the talents of F-1 students as being advantageous to the US. "Foreign students have been a huge benefit to America and to a great extent our secret sauce for our achievements in technology and medicine," Foster said. "We attract the best and the brightest and many of them are far more inclined than American students to pursue advanced degrees in the critical STEM fields of science, technology, math and engineering."

According to a 2022 report by the National Bureau of Economic Research, immigrants accounted for 44 percent of the founders of US billion-dollar startups, and were responsible for roughly one-third of aggregate US innovation.

Levine said the US is introducing unpredictability and hurdles as competitor countries such as Canada, the UK and Australia market themselves as more stable options.

It's unclear how the new policy, once implemented, will further impact the US ecosystem of international students as the number has already dropped since the Trump administration adopted a series of policies seeking to reduce international students.

The US administration has demanded that both public and private universities reduce international student admissions as a condition for receiving federal grants. Student visas have been canceled en masse.