Washington, September 15 (TNA) A federal judge in Boston has temporarily blocked a Trump administration rule that would have shortened the period international students, academics and foreign journalists could remain in the United States without applying for extensions.
US District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV issued a preliminary injunction on Monday, one day before the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulation was due to take effect. The order prevents the rule from being implemented nationwide while a legal challenge proceeds.
The regulation sought to end the longstanding “duration of status” system, under which international students generally can remain in the US as long as they continue to meet the requirements of their academic programmes. The system has allowed millions of students to complete their studies without repeatedly seeking extensions of their legal status.
Under the blocked rule, students and scholars holding F and J visas would generally have been limited to a maximum stay of four years. Those whose courses, research or training lasted longer-including many doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers-would have had to apply to the US government for an extension.
The rule also proposed limiting I visas for foreign journalists to 240 days, or about eight months. Journalists who wished to remain longer would have needed to seek further extensions, while the existing system generally allowed stays of much longer duration.
Judge Saylor found that DHS had failed to adequately explain the need for the changes and had not properly addressed concerns raised during the public-comment process. He concluded that the rule appeared to violate the Administrative Procedure Act, the law governing how federal agencies issue regulations.
The judge’s order does not permanently strike down the regulation or resolve the broader legal dispute. It only prevents the policy from taking effect while the case continues, with a further hearing scheduled for October 2.
Universities, labour unions and education and immigration advocacy groups had challenged the rule, warning that the proposed limits could disrupt academic programmes, create uncertainty for international researchers and impose additional administrative burdens on students and institutions. For now, the existing duration-of-status system remains in place.