The Trump administration issued a draft policy that has tightened the rules relating to calculation of visa overstay by foreign students.
The policy is scheduled to come into effect from August 9. Under the proposed policy, which is currently open for public comments, unlawful presence days (stay beyond a student’s visa tenure) will be computed from the day the student fails to maintain ‘immigration status’.
According to the draft policy memorandum, immigration status is not maintained from the day students stop pursuing their course of study, engage in unauthorised activity or complete their programme and authorised grace period. For example, students on an F-1 visa are given a grace period of 60 days post completion of their study to change their status or to leave the US.
Under current guidelines, the clock to calculate the number of days of unlawful presence begins ticking only from the day authorities discover the violation or an immigration judge passes an order, such as for deportation.
The proposed change will result in more days being counted as unlawful presence.
Based on the number of unlawful days, a student can be barred from entering or staying in the US or obtaining permanent residency. To illustrate, students who have accumulated more than 180 days of unlawful presence during a single stay may be subject to a ban of 3-10 years from re-entering the US, depending on the number of days overstayed. An overstay of more than a year could result in a permanent ban.
“The new policy can create hurdles for students who fall out of their immigration status and wish to apply for a visa or change their status to that of a US permanent resident,” stated Fragomen, a global firm specialising in immigration laws.