अमेरिकन न्यायालयाचा ट्रम्प प्रशासनाला मोठा दणका; विदेशी विद्यार्थी...

By GT24x7 Correspondents · 15 September 2026 · GlobalToday24x7

A United States federal court has issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the federal government from implementing new immigration regulations that would have strictly capped the duration of stay for international students, academic scholars, and foreign journalists. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the District of Massachusetts delivered the ruling in Boston in favor of a broad coalition comprising higher-education advocacy groups and labor unions. The injunction halts the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy just one day before it was formally scheduled to take effect.

The ruling preserves the traditional "duration of status" (D/S) system, an immigration framework maintained across the United States for nearly five decades. Under existing regulations, foreign students holding F-1 visas and exchange scholars on J-1 visas are authorized to remain in the US for the full duration of their verified educational curriculum or academic training without being required to submit recurring petitions for stay extensions.

Key Regulatory Shifts Halted by the Injunction

The contested DHS regulatory framework sought to eliminate open-ended academic validity in favor of strict calendar deadlines across nonimmigrant visa classes:

* Four-Year Cap on Student Visas: International students entering the US on F-1 and J-1 visas were to be restricted to a maximum stay of four years. Academic programs exceeding that period—such as master's-to-doctoral pipelines and multi-year medical degrees—would have required discretionary extension reviews by federal immigration officials. * Strict Limits on International Journalists: Foreign media correspondents holding I-visas, which historically remained active for up to five years or the length of employment, were faced with a 240-day stay ceiling, requiring repeated renewals. * Discretionary Renewals and Lack of Appeal: Under the contested guidelines, extension approvals were left to the discretion of DHS personnel without a direct administrative appeal process in the event of an initial denial.

Judicial Findings and Economic Repercussions

In a detailed memorandum, Judge Saylor described the government’s stated justifications—principally centered on border security and curbing visa overstays—as "exceptionally weak" and unsubstantiated by empirical administrative records. The court noted that doctoral and postgraduate degree programs routinely require five to seven years to conclude, rendering a four-year arbitrary threshold unworkable for premier research universities, including institutions such as MIT and Harvard.

The court emphasized that abruptly forcing international researchers, scientists, and students into procedural uncertainty would inflict widespread harm on the American higher education system and the national economy. The judge also flagged concerns regarding foreign press freedom, observing that short renewal intervals could create leverage where visas for journalists reporting critically on official policies might be denied.

The decision grants immediate relief to approximately 1.6 million F-1 student visa holders and over 500,000 J-1 exchange visitors nationwide as the substantive legal challenge proceeds through federal courts.