A coalition of unions and advocacy groups has sued the U.S. government in an effort to block new visa rules that would impose fixed limits on how long foreign students, exchange visitors and journalists can remain in the United States without seeking extensions.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenges regulations introduced by President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security.
Under the new rules, F visas for international students and J visas for cultural exchange participants would be limited to a maximum of four years. I visas issued to foreign journalists would generally be limited to 240 days, while Chinese journalists would face a 90 day limit.
The regulations, scheduled to take effect on September 15, replace the current system under which the visas can generally remain valid for the duration of an approved programme or employment.
The coalition, which includes unions and advocacy organisations representing universities, students and journalists, described the changes as “catastrophic” and warned that they could discourage international students and scholars from coming to the United States.
The groups argued that students could lose their lawful immigration status before completing their studies, while universities could lose international talent and billions of dollars in economic contributions generated by international education.
NewsGuild CWA President Jon Schleuss also criticised the changes as an attack on journalists. The union represents many U.S. journalists, including employees of Reuters.
The Department of Homeland Security dismissed the lawsuit as “performative” and defended the new rules as necessary to combat what it described as fraud involving international students.
“If the media really cared about legitimate international students, they would be thanking President Trump for cracking down on the rampant fraud,” a DHS spokesperson said, without providing evidence to support the allegation.
The lawsuit now places the implementation of the new visa restrictions before the federal courts.
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