The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, more than any other country, contributing more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023, according to official data.
Higher education groups had denounced the proposal as a needless bureaucratic hurdle that would deter talented students, with the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration warning it “weakens the ability of US colleges and universities to attract top talent.”
Universities have already reported lower international enrollments after earlier Trump administration actions, including the revocation of thousands of student visas and suspension of billions of dollars in federal research funding.
Media organisations and international stakeholders, including the Embassy of Japan, urged DHS to allow admission periods of two to five years for correspondents posted to US bureaus.
The department rejected the proposals, along with requests for expedited processing and capped fees for journalists.
Trump proposed similar limits at the end of his first term, but his successor Joe Biden scrapped the idea.
The rule is subject to review by the Republican-led Congress.
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State Department visa policy
Separately, the US State Department announced a visa restriction policy to target what it said were “far-left terrorist and other aligned groups”.
“Far-left terrorist and aligned groups often use sophisticated, organised networks to perpetrate violence as a political tool – seeking to implement an extreme political vision through intimidation and coordinated campaigns of terror,” a State Department statement said.
“It is a strategy that explicitly aims to undermine the political foundations of free and self-governing societies, utilising bombings, assassinations, and other forms of terrorism to silence speech, limit political opposition, change policy outcomes, and sabotage political processes.”
The policy aims to safeguard the US by restricting entry to foreign nationals who finance, recruit for, or enable violent far-left terrorist networks, the statement added.
