On 15 September 2026, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will formally implement a major reform of the F-1 student visa, the core of which will be to abolish the years-long "Duration of Status" system and move to a fixed-term residence linked to the end-of-project date. According to the final rules issued by the DHS in the Federal Gazette - all known as "the establishment of fixed time limits for non-immigrant academic students, exchange visitors and representatives of foreign information media and the procedure for the extension of stay" - I don't know. From 15 September, F-1 students were no longer automatically granted residency rights for a long period of time, such as their academic process. This period corresponds to the end date of the project indicated in the I-20 table, but does not exceed four years. For graduate and doctoral students who have completed more than four years of schooling, an application for an extension of I-539 forms through USCIS will be required thereafter, rather than an automatic renewal.
Policy changes quickly triggered a chain reaction in higher education and the justice system. The University of Cornell, having received information from ICE (ICE), announced stricter auditing criteria for the temporary work qualifications of some international students. Prominent institutions, such as Harvard University, Columbia University and Yale University, have also been issuing internal guidance documents to help students understand the scope of rights and obligations under the new regulations. At the same time, there are reports that United States courts have delayed the implementation of some of the new visa rules, indicating that there are still legal-level games in the process of policy landing. DHS had also previously submitted a cost proposal of $103,265 for an H-1B visa application, covering the maximum number of cases and cases of high-quality exemptions, with a deadline of 24 September 2026 for the request for written comments, which is still in the consultation stage and is not yet final.
This reform has a wide and direct impact on the group of American students. In practical cases, some F-1 visa applicants have faced denials, even if their individual pay levels are higher. Visa waiting times have been announced in some municipalities and there are significant differences in the trial cycles in categories F-1 and B1/B2. The anxiety of the students in school is evident in the school environment, with students in higher education publicly expressing concern about uncertainty about the future. For groups of F-1 students, especially graduate and doctoral students who have completed more than four years of studies, the renewed emphasis of the new regulations is most significant: They need to prepare in advance the full set of materials required for I-539 extension requests, including updated I-20 forms, adequate financial certification and ongoing school records. It is worth noting that the optional OPT (selective practical training) and STEM professional extension of an additional 24 months is not directly affected by this four-year cap, but the eligibility criteria for the CPT (course practical training) have been tightened simultaneously.
In the face of the new rules, the following concrete steps should be taken by the students in the United States: first, immediate confirmation of the end date of their project and the current I-20 validity period, with an assessment of whether they will face a four-year deadline; second, the submission of I-539 forms through the USCIS prior to the expiration date, if required, together with an updated version of I-20 by the school, sufficient financial security materials and complete school records; third, close attention to the latest operating instructions issued by the International Student Office at the school, with the leading high-level schools having taken the lead in issuing internal notes; fourth, early initiation of the application process for students who plan to apply for an OPT or STEM extension, as the new OPT eligibility review may have an impact on the new fixed-term system; fifth, with regard to visa appointment, the new F-1 visa may be submitted within 365 days of the start of the project, but not earlier than 30 days before the start of the project. The current cost of SEVIS is $350 and the visa application fee is $185, and the cost rates remain unchanged.