Re: 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, Docket No. ICEB-2025-0001

Foreign students, exchange visitors, and representatives for foreign information media can visit the United States on a temporary basis in the F, J, and I visa classifications, respectively. Unlike most temporary visitors in nonimmigrant visa classifications, however, visitors entering under the F, J, and I visa classifications are admitted to the United States for an unspecified amount of time, referred to as “duration of status” (D/S). Nonimmigrants visiting the United States on D/S visas do not have a fixed end date, on which their authorized period of stay terminates, printed on the Form I-94, Arrival/Departure Record. Instead, these nonimmigrants are allowed to remain in the United States for as long as they maintain the conditions of their immigration status.

D/S is not a feature that is original to the F, J, and I visa programs. From 1973 to 1979, foreign students entering F nonimmigrant visas, for example, were admitted for a period of authorized stay of just one year and could be granted an extension of stay (EOS) in increments of up to 12 months if they adequately demonstrated that they were maintaining their status (i.e., continued to be enrolled in a course of study, among other requirements). Because of administrative costs and the desire “to reduce the continual need to process vast numbers of applications for extension of stay” following growth of the foreign student arrivals, the former Immigration and Nationalization Service (INS) amended pertinent regulations in 1979 to change the F-1 nonimmigrant visa classification to a D/S classification.