DHS finalized the rule ending Duration of Status. It was scheduled to take effect September 15, 2026. A federal court blocked it the day before. We spent a year calling this a "when, not if." Here is where it actually stands.
Updated September 18, 2026: This post was written before a federal court postponed the rule's effective date on September 14, 2026. The rule is not currently in effect.
For eleven months, we've been writing about a Duration of Status rule that hadn't happened yet. It happened.
DHS released the final rule on July 16 and published it in the Federal Register on July 17 (91 FR 44976). It replaces Duration of Status with a fixed period of admission for F, J, and I nonimmigrants, caps F-1 stays at four years, and restricts mid-program major changes and school transfers (Inside Higher Ed, July 16).
It was scheduled to take effect September 15, 2026. A federal court blocked it the day before, and it is not currently in effect. The injunction holds pending further order of the court or resolution on the merits. Plan as though it could return.
They would have gotten a runway. It had a ceiling, and it was more fragile than the coverage suggested.
Students properly maintaining F or J status on September 15, 2026 would have been able to stay until the later of their EAD expiration date or the program end date on their I-20 or DS-2019, capped at four years from September 15, 2026. DHS says it plainly: students may remain until the program end date on those documents "or 4 years after the effective date of the rule, whichever comes first" (new 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)).
Then a departure period on top. The transition provision set 60 days for F nonimmigrants, running to November 14, 2030, and 30 days for J, running to October 15, 2030.
Two catches worth keeping in hand if the rule returns.
One trip abroad would have ended it. Per DHS, if these students "decide to travel abroad during this transition period, they will be issued a new I-94 with a date certain upon their return, as will all other F and J nonimmigrants." No exception for a long weekend in Toronto. This is the detail most likely to blindside a student over winter break.
Students already out of status would have gotten nothing. DHS is explicit that nonimmigrants who fell out of status before the effective date "are not eligible for the transition provisions and must seek reinstatement or depart the United States."
Had the rule taken effect, students admitted on or after September 15 would have received a date-certain I-94 immediately. No transition period applies.
The August 2025 proposal estimated the rule would cost U.S. parties $86.3M to $88.1M a year.
The final rule says $119.9M to $125.1M.
That's roughly 40% higher, in the agency's own analysis, for the same policy. Total annualized cost across all parties, students included, runs $443.1M to $448.6M across 2027 to 2036.
We flagged in Part 1 that the proposal's estimate looked low against what ISSS offices were describing. DHS agrees now, after reading nearly 22,000 comments, most of them opposed. If you're building a staffing or systems case this fall, this is your citation.
That last one deserves a second read. The students most likely to need more time are the least likely to get it.
If your prep was built off the August 2025 text, these are your gaps.
If a student files an extension during the 30-day grace period, they cannot work or begin practical training until it's approved. Full course of study only.
So a student who finishes in December, needs more time, and files during their grace period ends up with a pending extension, frozen employment authorization, and 30 days already running. Under the old 60-day window with DSO-managed extensions, this mostly didn't happen.
Build that advising script now, before someone walks in having already made the wrong move.
Real relief exists, and knowing about it will spare some students genuine harm.
The word doing the work is timely. Late filings get none of this, which is why admit-until tracking is worth building before it is needed.
One number students will ask about: Form I-539 runs $470 by mail or $420 online. No fee waivers for F, J, or I, and no premium processing on an extension. There's no way to buy speed, so your filing calendar has to absorb the full USCIS window.
USCIS is carrying a backlog of more than 11.65 million cases, with average processing time over a year (American Immigration Council). This rule adds a brand new population of filings to it.
Two things make that worse than it sounds. Extension decisions are discretionary, so approval isn't a formality. And per Inside Higher Ed's read of the rule, denials cannot be appealed.
Your team's throughput was never going to be the constraint here. Adjudication time is.
We published 7 steps ISSS offices should do before the DHS rule in June. All still hold. These four come first.
Move automations to admit-until. Most workflows key off program end date. If the rule returns, that field stops governing.
This rule has been called procedural. It isn't.
It moves extension authority into a queue of 11.65 million cases with no expedite path and no appeal. It halves your students' grace period. It freezes employment for anyone who files during that window. It strips transfer flexibility from your graduate population. The rule would have landed during your busiest period.
NAFSA CEO Fanta Aw called it "a misguided and unnecessary policy shift that injects uncertainty, bureaucracy, and fear into a system that has long worked effectively." The uncertainty she named is the part that survived. The bureaucracy is paused, not cancelled.
The offices that come through this in decent shape will be the ones that spent August building visibility instead of waiting for guidance.
Via International was built by former ISSS professionals for exactly this pressure. Your team sees every at-risk record before it becomes a filing emergency, spends less time reconciling SEVIS by hand, and tracks extensions of stay in a system that already does it rather than one sitting on a roadmap.
Read the updated white paper: Facing the Four-Year Wall →
Book a walkthrough with a former PDSO →
Catch up: Part 1, The Four-Year Wall Is No Longer Theoretical
Part 2, 7 Steps ISSS Offices Should Do Before the DHS Rule
Sources: U.S. Federal Register, July 17, 2026 (91 FR 44976, Document 2026-14439), DHS Docket No. ICEB-2025-0001, RIN 1653-AA95; NPRM, August 28, 2025 (90 FR 42070); ICE Duration of Status Regulatory Impact Analysis, Final Rule 2026; 8 CFR 106.2; Inside Higher Ed, July 16, 2026; American Immigration Council USCIS case tracker, Q4 2025; 43 FR 32306 (July 26, 1978).
Provided for informational purposes. Not legal advice.
Last updated: September 18, 2026