US Implements New Fixed-Date Visa Status Rules for F-1 and J-1 Students

As of September 15, 2026, the United States has officially eliminated the long-standing 'Duration of Status' (D/S) policy for F-1 and J-1 visa holders, including their dependents. Historically, international students and exchange visitors were admitted for the duration of their academic program, allowing them to remain in the country as long as they maintained their status. This shift replaces that flexibility with a fixed-date admission system, requiring students to adhere to specific expiration dates marked on their arrival records.

The policy change is part of a broader administrative effort to increase oversight of non-immigrant populations. By moving away from D/S, the Department of Homeland Security aims to standardize the monitoring of visa expiration timelines. This transition represents a significant departure from decades of immigration practice and places a higher burden of compliance on both the academic institutions and the individual visa holders to track their legal presence in the country.

This policy directly impacts all current and incoming F-1 and F-2 students, as well as J-1 and J-2 exchange visitors currently residing in or planning to travel to the United States. It also affects university international student offices that must now manage more frequent extension filings for their student populations.

Makutet expects this policy shift to create a significant administrative bottleneck at USCIS as thousands of students are forced to file for extensions that were previously unnecessary. We anticipate that this will lead to increased scrutiny of academic performance and potentially higher rates of status violations for students who fail to navigate the new, more rigid filing requirements.