A US federal judge has stopped a Trump administration policy that sought to impose fixed time limits on the stay of foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists in the United States.
Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued the order on Monday, September 14, 2026, one day before the new rule was scheduled to take effect.
The policy, introduced by the Department of Homeland Security, would have replaced the longstanding system that allows foreign students in good standing to remain in the country for the duration of their academic programmes.
Under the proposed changes, F-1 student and J-1 exchange visas would generally have been limited to four years, while foreign journalists holding I visas would have been allowed to stay for a maximum of 240 days.
Those requiring additional time would have had to apply for extensions.
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However, Saylor ruled that DHS had not sufficiently justified the policy change or demonstrated that less restrictive alternatives had been adequately considered.
The judge also rejected the department’s national security justification, describing the reasoning behind the restrictions as exceptionally weak.
According to the ruling, the existing system has been in operation for nearly five decades and has enabled millions of international students and researchers to study and work in the US.
Saylor further warned that implementing the new restrictions could cause significant disruption to American universities and the broader economy, particularly institutions that depend heavily on international students.
The ruling followed a lawsuit filed by a coalition of unions and higher education organisations challenging the DHS policy.
The Trump administration had defended the proposed restrictions as necessary to prevent abuse of the US visa system.
DHS General Counsel James Percival criticised the court’s decision, arguing that the existing system could allow some foreign students to remain in the United States for decades through repeated enrolment.
With the judge’s order, the proposed restrictions cannot take effect while the legal challenge proceeds.
