Attention, families with students in the U.S. need to pay attention to an important development: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has submitted a new rule regarding the termination of the "Duration of Status" for F, J, and I visas to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review, and it is about to be announced and implemented.
In fact, this is not a sudden new policy. As early as August 2025, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) published a new rule in the Federal Register: "Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students (F), Exchange Visitors (J), and Representatives of Foreign Information Media (I)," which cancels the long-standing policy of entering the U.S. under the "Duration of Status" (D/S) method.
Based on the August 2025 draft analysis
The new rule may include the following aspects:
• The period of stay for F-1 students will be fixed, likely not exceeding 4 years at most.
• Academic extensions will no longer be primarily handled by the school's DSO, but may require submitting an extension application to USCIS.
• The grace period for F-1 students after graduation or the end of OPT may be shortened from 60 days to 30 days.
• Changing majors, transferring schools, or continuing to study at the same or a lower academic level may be subject to more restrictions.
• The application process for OPT and STEM OPT may become more complex.
• Once the fixed period of stay is exceeded without a timely approved extension, the risk of unlawful presence may significantly increase.
It should be noted that the final rule has not yet been officially announced, and the specific content, implementation time, and whether it will affect existing students still need to be based on the final version. WorldWay will continue to monitor this and will share any new information with you as soon as it becomes available.
Why is this worth the attention of families with students studying abroad?
In the past, the default path for many families for U.S. status was: Study Abroad → OPT → H-1B Lottery → Green Card. However, in recent years, the uncertainty of this path has continued to rise.
U.S. immigration policies are adjusted frequently. From H-1B lottery rules and OPT reviews to F/J/I status duration management, the policy direction is constantly changing, making every step for international students in the U.S. potentially face clearer time limits and higher compliance pressure.
Of course, this does not mean that studying in the U.S. is not an option. High-quality U.S. educational resources remain attractive, but families can no longer just look at school admissions, nor can they simply leave the status issue to be resolved after graduation. For families with long-term plans to stay in the U.S., status planning must be prioritized in sync with study abroad planning.
Status planning should be prioritized as early as possible
Against the backdrop of increasing policy uncertainty, for families who hope their children will develop in the U.S. in the long term, EB-5 investment immigration is a path that many families with students studying abroad should focus on. Unlike paths that rely on employer support or the H-1B lottery, EB-5 is essentially an immigration category based on investment and job creation, and does not use lottery results or employer sponsorship as a prerequisite for application.
Currently, under the new EB-5 law, we are in a relatively favorable policy window. Among them, Rural EB-5 projects enjoy the advantage of no visa backlog and priority processing; at the same time, the "concurrent filing" policy allows eligible applicants to file I-526E and I-485 simultaneously within the U.S., and they can obtain a Combo card in about 3 months, thereby obtaining legal residence, work authorization, and travel convenience as early as possible.
However, this window will not exist for long. As the reserved visa quota continues to be consumed, the pressure of visa backlogs is gradually emerging; at the same time, the grandfather clause will expire on September 30; the minimum investment amount may also be increased on January 1, 2027. For families intending to plan for U.S. status, the earlier they evaluate, the more opportunities they have to seize the current policy window.
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