DHS Proposes New Regulation to Eliminate D/S

in Fall 2024 Workshops
September 25th, 2020

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) published proposed regulation 85 FR 60526 that seeks to eliminate “Duration of Status” or D/S for F international students, J exchange visitors and F-2 and J-2 dependent family members. This a proposed regulation that makes extensive changes to how long students and scholars could be granted admission to the United States in the future. The proposed rule indicates that individuals in F-1, F-2, J-1 and J-2 status would be granted a specific expiration date of their status instead of D/S which would require them to submit a form, application fee and supporting documents to USCIS to apply for extensions if they need additional time to complete an academic program, begin a new program of study or, in order to apply for post-completion employment authorization like OPT or STEM OPT.

Please see an ISSO summary and a NAFSA summary of the proposed regulations for more details.

A number of offices at the University are reading the proposed regulations to evaluate how this will impact our community. Boston University intends to comment and participate in efforts to mitigate this proposed rule change.  It is important to keep in mind that this is still in the federal proposed rulemaking process and will not result in any immediate changes for our international students and scholars. The public has 30 days (until October 26, 2020) to comment on these proposed changes. The rule will follow normal APA public notice and comment procedures. After the comment period ends, the government is required to review all comments submitted and address any substantial comments. Based on comments, they are likely to make some changes to the regulation before publishing it in a final format. Sometimes changes to the final version of a regulation are small, and sometimes they are quite substantial. It is difficult to predict if, or when, the government might complete this process and publish new regulations in a final format.

If you are interested in commenting on the proposed regulation, NAFSA’s summary provides detailed instructions on how to submit a comment.  The President’s Alliance and NAFSA have jointly published a talking points document for this proposed regulation, and  NAFSA has created a tip sheet for writing a successful comment letter that interested parties may find useful.

On Tuesday, October 20, ISSO offered an information and Q&A session on the proposed regulation to eliminate Duration of Status. You can view the recording of the information session below.