WASHINGTON: The US government plans to reduce the validity period of visas for students and journalists.
F visas, which allow foreign students to stay in the United States, will now be valid for a maximum of four years, the US Department of Homeland Security announced on Wednesday.
Currently, students receive a visa for the duration of their academic programme, which can last five years in the case of a doctorate. The proposal from President Donald Trump's administration also includes limiting the validity of visas for media professionals to 240 days.
Visas for journalists could reportedly be extended by up to 240 additional days, but they should not be valid for longer than the duration of the journalistic assignment.
Extensions would need to be applied for at the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which would entail more extensive checks. Recently, for example, journalists from Germany were issued visas valid for up to five years.
"For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging US citizens," the Department of Homeland Security said.
The intended rule aims to prevent abuse and enable authorities to better monitor visa holders.
Representatives of the US higher education sector immediately criticised the proposed change.
"The rule would force (international students and scholars) to regularly and unnecessarily submit additional applications to be able to stay in the country and fulfil requirements of their academic programmes, imposing significant burdens on students, colleges and universities, and federal agencies alike," explained Miriam Feldblum, president and chief executive of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
She said this would burden the entire operation at universities. Feldblum also noted that the uncertainties would ultimately lead to fewer international academics choosing the US as a destination.
The public will have 30 days to comment on the measure, which mirrors a proposal put forward in 2020 at the end of Trump's first term in office.
NAFSA, a non-profit organisation representing international educators at more than 4,300 institutions worldwide, opposed the 2020 proposal and called on the Trump administration to scrap it. The Democratic administration of then-president Joe Biden withdrew it in 2021.
The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards of university students over their ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants. - dpa
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