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For nearly five decades, international students have been able to study and stay in the United States for as long as their program lasted. That policy ended this week when the Department of Homeland Security issued a rule limiting their time in the country to four years or less. International education advocates warn the change will add unnecessary bureaucracy into an already complicated system. They fear it will create another barrier for foreign students who want to attend American universities.

Current students won’t see any immediate changes, but how the rule affects future students remains unclear. Both groups will have to seek permission to stay in the country beyond four years, and advocates are concerned about the ability of the federal government to review applications given that immigration officials are already overburdened. The administration has not explained how it will decide whether to extend students’ stays.

For its part, the administration is downplaying the impact of the rule. DHS officials wrote in the rule that “nothing in this rule would prevent students from continuing their studies and research as long as individual students are complying with the terms of their nonimmigrant classification.”

Still, DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a statement that with this rule, “the United States is reclaiming its ability to properly screen, vet, and monitor individuals within our borders, and it will ensure “foreign students remain focused on their primary purpose: completing their studies and returning home.”

• A regulation that subjects F international students, J exchange visitors, and I representatives of foreign information media to fixed periods of stay and eliminates the longstanding policy of admitting these individuals into the country for the duration of their status will take effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register.
• Under the regulation, F, J, and I nonimmigrants will need to apply for an extension of stay to continue their activities beyond their specified admission period. Those who stay beyond their fixed period of stay would accrue unlawful presence.
• The final rule preserves the policy of requiring deference to USCIS approvals in most nonimmigrant adjudications, but DHS could seek to revise or eliminate this policy in a future rulemaking.

Colleges now have two months to comply with a series of regulatory updates affecting international students, including sharp limits on how long students are allowed to remain in the United States. The final rule is slated to be published in the Federal Register on Friday; if that happens, it’ll take effect September 15.

The updated rule eliminates “duration of status” on student visas, which essentially allowed foreigners to stay in the country as long as they continued to be full-time students, and replaces it with fixed end dates.

• Student visas will now last for four years or for the duration of the degree program, whichever is shorter — whether they are undergraduates, master’s students, or Ph.D. students.
• Remaining in the United States any longer now requires explicit approval from the federal government.
• Both new student-visa holders and existing ones will be subject to the strict timeframe; students who are already in the U.S., who were not initially given a set end date, will have to leave the country 30 days after their program’s completion.
• And if current student visa holders leave the U.S. any time after this September, they will be readmitted with a defined end date.

The Trump administration has argued that international students abuse the visa system, often taking a long time to graduate and then pursuing additional degrees to retain full-time status. Colleges acknowledge there is visa abuse but say the government should target those few cases instead of changing the policies entirely.

For more analysis of what the changes could mean for the sector, read our Karin Fischer’s deep dive.