US judge blocks Trump rule limiting stay for foreign students, journalists

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked a new Trump administration rule imposing stricter limits on the duration of stay for foreign students and journalists in the United States. The ruling, delivered by a district judge in Massachusetts, is expected to provide relief to international students. The judge observed that implementation of the policy would probably cause catastrophic damage to the US economy and the higher education system.  District Judge F. Dennis Saylor in Boston ruled in favor of a ‌coalition of unions and higher education advocacy groups a day before the Department of Homeland Security's rule was set to take effect. The judge found it had not adhered to its legal obligations to engage with concerns about a policy change or consider less burdensome alternatives.
Saylor, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush, wrote that the rule ⁠upended a system through which the U.S. for nearly five decades had issued visas to foreign students for their "duration of status." That system, he said, has permitted tens of millions of foreign students and researchers to come to the U.S., leading to "groundbreaking research in science, ​medicine, and ​technology, substantial economic growth, and a host of other benefits, often ​on a vast scale."
The Trump administration had finalised the rule in July this year. It proposed a four-year limit on visas for foreign students and exchange visitors, while journalists would have been permitted to stay for a maximum of 240 days. However, journalists from China would have been subject to a 90-day limit. Under the now-postponed policy, students and journalists could apply for extensions of their stay. However, approval would have remained at the discretion of officials of the Department of Homeland Security. The rule also provided no mechanism to appeal a decision denying an extension.
Under the rule, F visas for international students and J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the U.S. would be capped at four years, while I visas for journalists, which currently can last years, would be up to 240 days. About 1.6 million people currently have F visas and another 500,000 have J ‌visas. Major research universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard ​have large percentages of foreign students, particularly at the graduate level, the ​judge noted.