US court blocks Trump administration's new visa stay limits for students, foreign journalists

A US federal court on Monday (local time) blocked the Trump administration's new immigration rules that would have restricted how long international students and foreign journalists can remain in the United States.

Judge Denise Casper of the federal court in Boston, Massachusetts, sided with plaintiffs — a coalition of labor unions and education and immigration advocacy groups — and halted the Department of Homeland Security rules, according to Reuters. The decision came one day before the rules were set to take effect.

The blocked rules would have abolished the so-called Duration of Status system, which currently applies to holders of F visas (students), J visas (exchange visitors and trainees) and I visas (foreign journalists), and replaced it with fixed caps on the permitted length of stay for each visa category.

Under the existing system, visa holders may remain in the United States without separately applying for an extension, as long as they continue the activities for which their visa was issued — such as study, research or newsgathering.

Under the new rules, F and J visa holders would have been limited to a maximum stay of four years, while I visa holders would have faced a cap of 240 days. Anyone wishing to remain beyond those limits would have been required to apply to US Citizenship and Immigration Services for an extension and obtain approval.

Plaintiffs argued that the rules would destabilize the academic and research activities of international students and scholars, and could burden US universities and research institutions in their efforts to attract foreign talent.

Concerns were also raised that imposing a uniform stay limit on foreign journalists and requiring them to undergo extension reviews could chill newsgathering and undermine press independence.