A government serious about student-visa fraud would target fraudulent students, sham schools, and fictitious employers. The Trump administration has chosen a blunter instrument: subjecting nearly every international student in the United States to a new immigration deadline—and hundreds of thousands of them to recurring federal adjudication.
Beginning September 15, a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule will abolish “duration of status,” the system that has governed F-1 students since 1978. Under that rule, F-1 students were admitted for as long as they maintained their status and made normal progress toward completing the program listed on their Form I-20. When additional time was needed, a university official could generally extend the student’s program-end date. Immigrant students will now be permitted a fixed admission period of no more than four years. Those who take longer—like doctoral students working on critical projects—will have to pay a filing fee, assemble evidence, and persuade U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) that their academic reasons are sufficiently compelling to let them finish.
Finally, a reason to check your email.
Sign up for our free newsletter today.
The administration is right that student visas require enforcement. Visa mills, fake employers, and “forever students” are small but real problems. But the old system does not produce fraud on a scale that justifies alienating immigrant students, many of whom might otherwise become some of America’s most valuable residents.
F-1 students are already subject to stringent restrictions. They must pursue a full course of study, make normal academic progress, obey employment rules, and keep their records current in the government’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). A student who stops attending classes or works without authorization violates his status and can be removed under existing law.
The new rule adds to that already-robust system an additional USCIS checkpoint. Students needing more time must file Form I-539, pay a $420 filing fee, and document “compelling academic reasons,” illness, or an exceptional circumstance beyond their control. A timely applicant may continue studying while USCIS deliberates, but if the application is denied after his admission period expires, he must leave immediately. The rule also shortens the ordinary post-completion departure period from 60 days to 30.
DHS estimates that the rule may affect 1.5 million F-1 students, generate an average of roughly 400,000 F-category extension requests annually, and impose annualized costs approaching half a billion dollars. Remarkably, the department acknowledges that it did not quantify the rule’s benefits.
The empirical case for imposing these burdens is weak. In a public comment that I submitted to DHS, I noted that the department had identified roughly 2,100 people who entered as F-1 students between 2000 and 2010 and still had active records in 2025. That is about one-tenth of 1 percent of the 1.58 million active SEVIS records discussed in the final rule.
More importantly, these were unusually long enrollments—not 2,100 proved cases of fraud. The category could include lawful students who completed multiple degrees or pursued extended doctoral research.
The final rule cites several pay-to-stay prosecution announcements issued since 2008 and more than 10,000 cases of potential fraud involving Optional Practical Training (OPT). Those cases deserve investigation. But “potential” fraud is not proven fraud, and OPT already requires a separate USCIS employment-authorization adjudication.
DHS’s fiscal year 2024 data placed the suspected in-country overstay rate for F, M, and J visitors at less than 2.5 percent. None of these figures demonstrates that duration of status caused the violations or that making legitimate students file extension applications will prevent them.
The administration is also reportedly considering a $100,000 fee for the major program that allows F-1 students to work. That would effectively end the program. Combined with the new reduced 30-day post-graduation grace period, students unable to pay could be forced to leave before an H-1B takes effect on October 1, only to face another $100,000 fee to return. In practice, they would confront a six-figure toll either way.
Americans will absorb part of the damage from all these decisions. The United States hosted 1.2 million international students in 2024–2025, including roughly half a million graduate students. Their spending contributed $43 billion to the economy and supported roughly 355,000 jobs.
At many public universities, international students receive little institutional aid and pay nonresident tuition. Research has found that this allows public institutions to expand in-state enrollment and reduce listed tuition. Foreign students finance courses, faculty positions, research, and seats that benefit Americans.
DHS should rigorously enforce rules governing immigration fraud and overstays. But requiring hundreds of thousands of compliant students to prove repeatedly that they deserve to finish legitimate degrees is bad not just for them, but for America.