‘There is no flexibility’: international students in the US discouraged by new visa limits

International students enrolled at U.S. universities continue to deal with the fallout from the immigration offensive launched by the administration of Donald Trump. Now, F-1 visa holders will be subject to a strict limit that allows them to remain in the United States for only four years, according to a rule finalized this month by the Department of Homeland Security. It is the latest in a series of changes — including mandatory social media checks for applicants and a shortened grace period after graduation — that have created uncertainty for these students.

“There is no flexibility,” says a third-year student at Stanford University who is from the United Kingdom, and who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of possible government retaliation. In fact, every undergraduate student interviewed for this story said they feared that speaking openly about politics could jeopardize their immigration status or future in the United States in the current climate.

The new federal rule eliminates the “duration of status,” a policy that allowed international students to remain in the U.S. for as long as it took to complete their academic program. It replaces that policy with a fixed four-year limit. It also reduces the postgraduation grace period from 60 to 30 days. For many students, the change upends one of the defining features of U.S. undergraduate education: the freedom to explore before committing to a major.

Unlike in many countries where students apply directly to a specific program, some U.S. universities encourage students to spend their early years sampling different disciplines before choosing a major. That flexibility also accommodates double majors, minors and accelerated or combined bachelor’s and master’s programs, which may require an extra semester or year. At Stanford University in California alone, roughly one in three students pursues one of those programs and earns both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in about five years.

Under the new rules, however, international students say those decisions must now be made much earlier. Plans to add a second major, pursue a concurrent degree or delay graduation by even a single quarter could require applying for an extension of stay, making academic exploration much harder.

A second-year Stanford student from New Zealand describes the four-year cap on the visa as incompatible with traditional American educational values. “When you start, you don’t have a chosen major; basically, you can change it until you graduate,” they explain. “There’s immense pressure to know what you want and plan it far in advance, when non-international students aren’t expected to do the same. It feels quite unfair,” they add.

Another Stanford student, a senior from South Asia, says he now needs an additional quarter to finish a double major rather than graduating with a major and a minor. Under the previous rule, that extra quarter would have been routine; under the new rule it would require a formal extension of stay. “It’s so arbitrary,” he says. “It’s going to be an unnecessary burden on the U.S. government, which will have to process more paperwork, as if it doesn’t already have enough to do.”

“The worst situation for freedom of speech”

The most recent figures for student visas approved refer to fiscal year 2024, before Trump returned to power and implemented the new restrictions, so it remains unclear how those changes will affect future enrollment. In that period, about six in 10 F-1 student visa applications were approved, with 400,737 visas granted out of 679,290 applications worldwide, according to the State Department.

In the 2024-2025 academic year, the total number of international students in the U.S. rose 4.5% to a record 1,177,766. However, first-time international student enrollment declined 7.2% to 277,118, continuing a slowdown that began the previous year, according to a report from the Institute of International Education (IIE) and the State Department. India was the top country of origin with 363,019 students, nearly a third of the total, followed by China. California hosted the largest number of international students, followed by New York and Texas, which recorded the fastest growth among the top states.

The visa process was already complicated before the changes announced this month, with difficulties that begin long before students receive a visa. For many prospective applicants, the simple act of visiting the U.S. to tour universities depends on their country of origin.

Travelers from countries in the Visa Waiver Program, which covers most of the European Union, typically receive authorization within days. Applicants from some of the countries that send the most international students to U.S. universities, such as China, India and Pakistan, face waits of months or even years for tourist visa interview appointments. For example, one student interviewed for this paper who had hoped to visit U.S. universities before enrolling did not receive a tourist visa until after they had been admitted, obtained an F-1 visa and started classes.

The Trump administration has also suspended and later resumed visa interviews on multiple occasions and has required applicants to maintain public social media accounts subject to government review.

Several students say that this scrutiny has made them reluctant to speak publicly about political topics. “I’m not allowed to attend demonstrations. I’m not allowed to post anything on social media,” says the New Zealand student, who deactivated his Instagram account before arriving in the U.S. out of fear that past posts could be used against him. The student his university’s International Student Office had expressly advised him to avoid protests and political posts. “It makes you feel a bit like a criminal when you’re not one,” he says.

“It’s the worst situation for freedom of speech that I have ever seen in a Western country,” says the U.K. student.

Those concerns are the subject of an ongoing federal lawsuit. The Stanford Daily, the university’s independent student newspaper, has sued the Trump administration over its enforcement of immigration rules against noncitizen students, alleging that it has had a chilling effect on free speech. The suit, which is pending, says several international staff members of the paper have removed their bylines or left the publication for fear that their reporting could jeopardize their visas. Similar worries surfaced repeatedly in interviews for this article.

Students say the cumulative effect of the changes has left them uncertain about their long-term prospects in the United States and increasingly aware that other countries might offer a more welcoming future.

“It’s disheartening because the policy assumes we are a burden on American society,” the South Asian student says. “Yet we contribute heavily to some of the technologies, inventions and research. (…) We come to this country bringing money, ideas and dialogue. We enrich every institution we’re part of, and when policies like this are approved, the truth is they push us to look elsewhere.”

“All the rhetoric behind anti-international student and anti-immigration stances is that ‘they’ll come, take our resources and then go back to their home country,’” the New Zealand student says. “But if you put up so many barriers to staying in the U.S., it will only encourage that trend more.”

Some students say the anxiety goes beyond Trump-era policies to the growing unpredictability of the U.S. immigration system. Because each administration adopts an approach radically different from its predecessor, they say, planning studies and a career in the United States has become increasingly difficult. “I can’t change my standard of living every four years based on which party is in power,” the South Asian student says.

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