Immigration attorney Charles Kuck walked through the new student visa rule, and the headline change is that “duration of status” is going away. F-1 students used to be admitted for as long as they stayed enrolled, with no end date on the I-94. Now there is a date.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Under the old rules, students did not get a fixed departure date. Now, there’s a fixed departure date.”
The periods are program-based: roughly four years of admission for a four-year undergraduate program, and two years for a master’s or PhD. Two years is not enough to finish most doctorates, so the rule effectively builds in a need to file for extensions, and it turns ordinary academic decisions into immigration filings.
mic What the Attorney Says
“If you change your major you have to apply for an extension of your status which immigration under Trump will likely try to deny.”
The timing window matters. Kuck’s advice is to make any program move before the rule takes effect, because after that a change that is free today requires a formal Form I-539 extension of stay that costs money and time.
mic What the Attorney Says
“Currently you can change majors. Currently you can change schools without going to the immigration service. After September 17th that’s not going to be possible without doing a 539.”
Two habits become essential once you have a date on your record. Check your I-94 after every entry at i94.cbp.dhs.gov, because CBP does make data-entry errors and now those errors have a deadline attached. And build a real relationship with your school’s international student office, which tracks these rules and has outside counsel on call. If a school change is on your horizon, the safest move is the one covered in changing schools before the duration-of-status rule lands, and if marriage is part of your plan, sequencing matters as in filing for a marriage green card from F-1 without traveling.