US judge blocks Trump administration restrictions on foreign student and journalist visas

Federal judge blocks visa duration limits

A federal judge in Boston on Monday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from implementing a new rule that would have imposed fixed limits on how long foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists can remain in the United States without applying for extensions. US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor issued the preliminary injunction a day before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule was scheduled to take effect, siding with a coalition of unions and higher education advocacy groups that had filed a lawsuit challenging the policy.

Judge Saylor, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, ruled that the new policy would probably cause "catastrophic" damage to the US economy and higher-education system. In his decision, he described the government's rationale for the rule change as "exceptionally weak," and found that DHS had failed to meet its legal obligations to engage with concerns about the policy change or consider less burdensome alternatives. The agency had cited national security and the need to prevent fraud in the visa program as justification for the rule.

The ruling blocks a measure that was finalized in July and would have replaced the system under which the US has issued visas to foreign students for their "duration of status" for nearly five decades. Under the blocked rule, F visas for international students and J visas for visitors on cultural exchange programs would have been capped at four years, while I visas for journalists, which can currently last for years, would have been limited to 240 days. Chinese journalists would have faced a 90-day limit, with extensions of 90 days, as reported by several outlets.

The judge noted that the current system has permitted tens of millions of foreign students and researchers to come to the US, contributing to "groundbreaking research in science, medicine, and technology, substantial economic growth, and a host of other benefits, often on a vast scale." He warned that the new restrictions would substantially restrict the overall number of foreign students, professors and journalists in the country, and would particularly harm graduate enrollment. He pointed to the high proportion of international students at major research universities, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, where they account for large shares of the student body, especially at the graduate level.

Saylor also rejected the government's argument that relief should be limited to the plaintiffs rather than the entire country, noting that maintaining parallel regulatory regimes would be impractical. The preliminary injunction halts implementation of the rule nationwide while the case proceeds in court. A hearing is scheduled for October 2.

Reactions from the parties

The Department of Homeland Security argued that the limits were needed to curb fraud and make it easier to stop people from overstaying their visas. DHS General Counsel James Percival criticized the ruling, saying it would allow "rampant abuse" of the immigration system and would permit people to "come on a student visa, take one class per semester, and stay here for decades."

Harvard President Alan M. Garber had earlier called the rule "odd," noting that a typical PhD program takes at least six years, making a four-year visa cap an awkward cutoff for graduate students.

Miriam Feldblum, head of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, one of the plaintiffs, said the ruling recognized the "serious and irreparable harm" the rule would cause to international students, universities, the economy, research and innovation.

The plaintiffs, which include the Presidents' Alliance, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts, NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the American Federation of Teachers, and other labor and education groups, argued that the policy was based on an arbitrary timeline and would decimate doctoral studies, as PhD programs typically take more than five years to complete.

Broader impact

The rule was expected to affect a significant number of people currently in the US under the affected visa programs. According to figures cited by the Korean Embassy in Washington, more than 13,000 South Koreans were in the US under F, J, or I visas subject to the rule, including over 11,800 students on F-1 visas and nearly 8,000 on J-1 exchange visitor visas. About 1.6 million people currently hold F visas and another 500,000 hold J visas, the judge noted.

The injunction comes as part of a broader immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, which has also proposed ending the up-to-60-day grace period for H-1B workers and several other employment-based visa holders, as reported by Lokmat Times and other outlets. The visa restrictions were the latest measure aimed at limiting international student enrollment at American universities.

In his ruling, Saylor expressed skepticism about the rule's stated purposes, writing that "the weakness of the connection between the rule and its purported rationales raises legitimate questions as to whether its real purpose is not to safeguard national security and protect our borders, but to achieve other, undisclosed, goals – such as, for example, asserting greater government control over academic institutions and the press." He also noted the risk of abuse, particularly the likelihood that visas of foreign journalists critical of the government would not be renewed.

The preliminary injunction preserves the existing system for now, allowing students and journalists to remain in the US for the duration of their programs or assignments without the need to apply for extensions subject to the new limits. The case will continue to be litigated, with the court scheduled to hear arguments in October.