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WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration moved Thursday to impose stricter limits on how long foreign students and journalists can stay in the United States, the latest bid to tighten legal immigration in the country.
Under a proposed change, foreigners would not be allowed to stay for more than four years on student visas in the United States.
Foreign journalists would be limited to stays of just 240 days, although they could apply to extend by additional 240-day periods.
The United States, until now, has generally issued visas for the duration of a student’s educational program or a journalist’s assignment, although no non-immigrant visas are valid for more than 10 years.
The proposed changes were published in the Federal Register, initiating a short period for public comment before it can go into effect.
Trump’s Department of Homeland Security alleged that an unspecified number of foreigners were indefinitely extending their studies so they could remain in the country as “’forever’ students.”
“For too long, past administrations have allowed foreign students and other visa holders to remain in the US virtually indefinitely, posing safety risks, costing untold amount of taxpayer dollars and disadvantaging UScitizens,” the department said in a press statement Wednesday.
The department did not explain how US citizens and taxpayers were hurt by international students, who according to Commerce Department statistics contributed more than $50 billion to the US economy in 2023.
The United States welcomed more than 1.1 million international students in the 2023-24 academic year, more than any other country, providing a crucial source of revenue as foreigners generally pay full tuition.
A group representing leaders of US colleges and universities denounced the latest move as a needless bureaucratic hurdle that intrudes on academic decision-making and could further deter potential students who would otherwise contribute to research and job creation.
“This proposed rule sends a message to talented individuals from around the world that their contributions are not valued in the United States,” said Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
“This is not only detrimental to international students — it also weakens the ability of US colleges and universities to attract top talent, diminishing our global competitiveness.”
The announcement came as universities were starting their academic years with many reporting lower enrollments of international students after earlier actions by the Trump administration.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan told the United Nations on Wednesday Israel is burying the two-state solution by expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, while facing no real consequences to prevent the killing of civilians with impunity in Gaza.

Addressing a UN Security Council briefing on the Middle East, Pakistan’s ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad said Israel’s military campaign and declared plan to fully occupy Gaza City would lead to further humanitarian catastrophe.

Gaza has been under Israeli assault for 691 consecutive days, with more than 62,000 Palestinians killed, including nearly 19,000 children and at least 270 journalists, according to figures cited by the envoy.

“Pakistan condemns Israel’s so-called ‘military operation’ and planned full occupation of Gaza City – which is nothing but a blueprint for further humanitarian catastrophe, threatening to displace once more up to one million people,” Ahmad said.

“Simultaneously, annexation in the West Bank and East Jerusalem continues unabated,” he added. “The E-1 settlement plan is a deliberate attempt to bury the two-State solution. We strongly condemn this action, which constitutes a clear violation of international law, including Security Council resolutions.”

The Pakistan diplomat noted Israel was deliberately and systematically killing civilians in Gaza.

“Even Israel’s own military data, as reported in the international media, admits that 83 percent of those killed are civilians,” he continued. “Yet, the indiscriminate military onslaught continues, because Israel is confronted with no real consequences for its actions.”

“Hospitals, schools, homes – nothing has been spared,” he added. “The world is now witnessing live-streamed killing of journalists and rescue workers.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has declared its intent to occupy Gaza, while reports of settler violence have surged in the West Bank.

Rights groups and diplomats have also documented periodic visits by far-right Israeli officials to the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem, where they have performed Jewish prayers and rituals despite long-standing arrangements barring such acts.

The Pakistani envoy highlighted famine had taken hold in Gaza City, threatening half a million people, and accused Israel of using hunger as a weapon of war.

“Food stacks up at borders because of systematic obstruction by Israel,” he said, warning that starvation of civilians could amount to a war crime.

Pakistan, a longstanding supporter of Palestinian statehood, called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, unhindered humanitarian access, the release of hostages and Palestinian prisoners and an end to forced displacement and settlement expansion.

It also reiterated support for a two-state solution that would establish a sovereign Palestinian state within pre-1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.