301.823.6670 | TK@KennedyVisas.com

Since spring 2025, DHS ran 1.3 million international student names through a federal criminal database under a program called the Student Criminal Alien Initiative, resulting in thousands of SEVIS terminations. 

 Separately, the State Department revoked over 3,000 student visas—including through its “Catch and Revoke” initiative targeting students based on social media activity—and instructed DHS to terminate the affected students’ SEVIS records. Many revocations became effective upon departure, barring students from returning after travel. Students and schools often received no advance notice. 

• Visa revocations and SEVIS terminations are separate government actions. A court order restoring a SEVIS record does not restore a revoked visa. Federal litigation has documented cases in which the State Department declared flagged students' visas revoked effective upon departure — meaning the student could leave the United States but could not return. In Chen et al. v. Mullin et al., currently pending in the Northern District of California, Chinese national F-1 students are challenging the State Department's alleged mass visa revocation policy under the Administrative Procedure Act. 
• On July 15, 2026, the court allowed that challenge to proceed, finding that students may challenge an alleged government policy — not just individual revocation decisions. That litigation is ongoing. Do not travel without consulting an attorney first.
• Courts have pushed back and some records have been restored, but the underlying termination authority remains in place. Court protections are not guaranteed and do not extend to every affected student.
• If your record was terminated by the government — not by your school and not for a traditional status violation — you may have a stronger path to reinstatement. The "circumstances beyond your control" argument carries significant weight when the government acted without a traditional status violation on your part. Whether reentry remains a safe option requires individual review. 
• Kennedy Law evaluates the USCIS filing track, the reentry option, and where warranted, the litigation track, to determine which path best protects your status and your long-term immigration options. The remedy depends on whether your SEVIS record was terminated, your visa was revoked, or both. 
• These are separate government actions requiring different legal responses. Kennedy Law evaluates both tracks — the USCIS filing track and the litigation track — and advises on which path best protects your long-term immigration options. Call before you travel and before you assume reinstatement is your only option.
   

On July 17, 2026, DHS published a final rule ending duration of status for F-1 students as of September 15, 2026.

• Under the old system, your Form I-94 said "D/S" — meaning you could remain in the United States for as long as you maintained valid student status. Your DSO updated your I-20 when your program was extended, and that was generally sufficient to maintain lawful status. 
• Under the new system, F-1 students are admitted for a fixed period — the length of their academic program as listed on their Form I-20, up to a maximum of four years. When that period expires, students who need more time must file a formal Extension of Stay application directly with USCIS. 
• A DSO can no longer extend a student’s lawful stay merely by changing the program end date in SEVIS. Students who need additional time must timely apply to USCIS for an extension—including students working in OPT or STEM OPT—or risk losing status and employment authorization. 
• Missing the USCIS filing deadline — even briefly — may constitute a status violation.
• The rule also reduces the post-completion grace period from 60 days to 30 days for students who enter or reenter on or after September 15.
• If you are currently in the U.S. under duration of status: You are covered by transition provisions and do not need to file immediately. Your authorized stay runs until your current I-20 program end date or September 15, 2030, whichever comes first.
• What this means going forward: DSOs cannot file your Extension of Stay. That authority now rests with USCIS. Students who have relied on DSO guidance to maintain status for decades now face a system in which a missed USCIS filing deadline — not a school deadline, a USCIS deadline — creates a status violation. The margin for error is narrower than it has ever been. Kennedy Law is tracking this rule and its implementation in real time. If you have questions about how this affects your specific situation, contact us before September 15.

• Students should have their admission period, academic plans, employment authorization, and filing deadlines reviewed before making enrollment or career decisions.

• The rule requires upward academic progression and restricts second degrees at the same educational level and movement into a lower-level program. A student who completes a U.S. program in F-1 status after September 15, 2026, generally cannot remain in or obtain F-1 status for another program at the same or a lower level—for example, a second bachelor’s or master’s degree, or an associate degree after completing a bachelor’s or master’s degree. Progression to a higher educational level remains permitted.

• The fixed admission period also affects students working in OPT or STEM OPT. Employers may need to track employees’ I-94 expiration dates and extension deadlines because a missed filing could interrupt both F-1 status and employment authorization. Some employers may pay for or coordinate USCIS extension filings rather than risk losing a valued employee. 

• Critical travel warning: Students admitted for duration of status before September 15, 2026, generally retain that transition treatment only while they remain in the United States. If they travel abroad and reenter on or after September 15, CBP will admit them under the new fixed-period framework and issue an I-94 with a specific expiration date. A trip home for winter break, a family visit, or a conference abroad can therefore end D/S treatment upon reentry. Consult Kennedy Law before traveling.

Most F-1 students do not discover an immigration problem until after it has already happened — a withdrawal processed without immigration review, a course load approved by an advisor who was not applying an immigration standard, a billing issue that triggered a SEVIS termination. By then, the clock is running and the options are narrower.

• Relying on a school's approval is not the same as obtaining immigration clearance. Proactive attorney review means you have your own experienced immigration counsel independently applying the immigration lens your school is not required to apply. 
• That review, done before a course load change, a withdrawal, or a billing issue is processed, is what prevents those events from becoming a reinstatement case.
• Every student Kennedy Law has represented in reinstatement proceedings wished they had made that call first.

 DSOs are school employees, not immigration attorneys. Their role is to manage SEVIS records and issue I-20s — not to provide legal advice.

• DSOs are not positioned to advise you on whether your specific course load, attendance record, or academic situation satisfies immigration requirements. A DSO may tell you that dropping below full-time enrollment is permitted under school policy. That is not the same as telling you it is permitted under immigration law — and the consequences of that gap fall on you, not on your school.
• Under the new fixed-period system, the window between a status problem and a status violation is shorter than it has ever been. Do not rely on your DSO to tell you when you need a lawyer. That is not their job, and they will not always know.