The administration of United States President Donald Trump is imposing new time limits on visas for foreign students, exchange visitors, and journalists, ending a decades-old system that allowed many of them to stay in the US for as long as they remained in school or on assignment.

Under a new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rule released on Thursday, international students and exchange visitors will generally be limited to four years, while foreign journalists will be admitted for up to 240 days at a time, or just 90 days for Chinese nationals.

Anyone who wants to stay longer will have to apply for an extension or leave the country and apply to come back.

The regulation, which takes effect 60 days after publication in the Federal Register pending congressional review, could impact admissions for college programmes starting in August and September.

It marks the latest step in Trump’s broader crackdown on immigration since returning to office in January 2025.

“For too long, past Administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the U.S. virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars, and disadvantaging U.S. citizens,” a DHS news release said when the changes were first proposed last summer.

The administration says the changes will make it easier to keep track of people on these visas.

“DHS has many examples of students and exchange visitors staying for decades in their student or exchange visitor status,” the rule said.

The department said it had found more than 2,100 people who first entered as students from 2000 to 2010 who still had student status in April this year as they enrolled in new programmes, transferred schools or extended their programme dates to remain in the US.

The rule also tightens restrictions on international students transferring schools or changing academic programmes, particularly at the graduate level.

According to the DHS, there were more than 1.8 million student visa admissions in 2024, up more than 11 percent over the previous year.

The department also said the US admitted more than 500,000 exchange visitors and about 37,300 foreign journalists during the 2024 fiscal year, which ended on September 30, 2024.

“The significant increase in the volume of such visitors poses a challenge to DHS’s ability to monitor and oversee these nonimmigrants while they are in the United States,” the department wrote.

It is the latest step in Trump’s broader push to tighten restrictions on both illegal and legal immigration.

In June, the Department of State said it had revoked more than 100,000 visas since Trump returned to office last year, including 8,000 students. Many of those students’ visas were revoked over their political activism.

Immigration advocates and universities have warned that the policies risk making the US a less attractive place to study, teach or do research by increasing costs and discouraging coming to the US for longer study programmes.