Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media

Status: In force. The effective date has passed and nothing here records a change to that.

From the published effective date. Nothing here records a court changing it.

• Document number: 2026-14439
• Type: Final Rule
• Published: July 17, 2026
• Effective: September 15, 2026
• Agency: Homeland Security Department

Official abstract

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is amending its regulations to change the admission period in the F, J, and I classifications from duration of status to an admission for a fixed time period, and additional changes to admission and extension requirements. This final rule will provide additional protections and oversight of these nonimmigrant categories and will allow DHS to better evaluate whether these nonimmigrants are maintaining status while temporarily in the United States. This final rule provides amendments to the proposed rule covering this topic that was published in the Federal Register on August 28, 2025.

What changes

• Duration of status ends. Form I-94 carries a fixed Admit Until Date rather than "D/S". Admission is limited to the programme length shown on the I-20 or DS-2019, up to four years. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(i)
• The F-1 departure period drops from 60 days to 30. It runs from the programme end date, the four-year maximum, or the end date of approved post-completion OPT or STEM OPT employment authorisation, whichever applies. DHS describes 30 days as "an appropriate balance" against the 10 days given to several work classifications. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v)
• Ending a programme early starts the clock early. A student who finishes study or training before the admission period expires has 30 days from that end date, not from the date on the I-94. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v)
• Filing for an extension during those 30 days does not extend permission to work. A student who files an extension of stay inside the 30-day departure window gets no automatic extension of employment authorisation, including on-campus work and CPT, and must wait for approval. Filing before the authorised stay expires is treated differently: on-campus employment may continue for up to 240 days while the application is pending. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(viii)
• Extensions become an application. Staying beyond the Admit Until Date requires Form I-539 filed with USCIS, timely under the new filing paragraph. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(7)(iii)(B)
• The 30 days do not count against the four years. Neither the 30-day period before the programme start date nor the 30 days after it ends count toward the maximum length of stay. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(i)

DHS states in the preamble that a nonimmigrant found to have overstayed or otherwise violated status accrues unlawful presence under existing inadmissibility grounds. That is the agency describing law that already applies, not something this rule creates.

Effective September 15, 2026. Sources: 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(i), 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v), 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(viii), 8 CFR 214.2(f)(7)(iii)(B). This restates what the rule does. It is not an assessment of any case and it is not legal advice.

Primary source

Read the full text on the Federal Register

This page is a structured index entry, not a substitute for reading the rule. This is not legal advice.

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Data updated October 2, 2026