WASHINGTON, Aug 27- The Trump administration has proposed a government regulation to tighten the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors, and media members, as part of a broader crackdown on legal immigration.
The regulation would create new hurdles for international students, exchange workers, and foreign journalists who would have to apply to extend their stay in the U.S. rather than maintain a more flexible legal status.
The proposed regulation would create a fixed time period for F visas for international students, J visas for visitors on cultural exchange programs to work in the U.S., and I visas for members of the media. Currently, these visas are available for the duration of the program or U.S.-based employment.
The student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years, while the visa for journalists would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days. The proposed regulation aims to better monitor and oversee visa holders while they are in the U.S. The public will have 30 days to comment on the measure, which mirrors a proposal put forward in 2020.
The Trump administration has increased scrutiny of legal immigration, revoking student visas and green cards of university students over their ideological views and stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of migrants.
with information from Reuters
