PresidentJoe Biden's administration has announced it is cancelling a proposal by hispredecessor Donald Trump to limit student visas to a four-year term forscholars from India and most other countries.
TheDepartment of Homeland Security (DHS) published the decision on Tuesday andsaid that it would also drop the proposed limits on visa for journalists.
TheDHS said that it had received about 32,000 public comments, of which 99 percent were critical of the proposal made by the Trump administration lastSeptember and, therefore, it was withdrawing the proposed changes.
Itsaid that it "is concerned that the changes proposed unnecessarily impedeaccess to immigration benefits."
Bykeeping the current visa regulations, students on F and J visas would be ableto keep their visas in the US as long as they are continuing their studies andjournalists on I visas while keeping their jobs.
Ifthe changes had gone through, they would have had to apply to the Citizenshipand Immigration Service for extensions or leave the country and apply to theCustoms and Border Protection agency for readmission.
TheTrump administration proposal would have further reduced the limits on studentvisas to two years for certain countries a large number of whose citizens wereoverstaying their visas.
TheDHS reported that those opposing the time limit said "would significantlyburden the foreign students, exchange scholars, (and) foreign mediarepresentatives" and "impose exorbitant costs."
"Highereducation groups were alarmed by the plan to change the policy, which, theyargued, would create uncertainty and confusion for students who would have tonavigate a burdensome and costly new reapplication process in order to continuetheir studies in the US," Inside Higher Education reported.
Thebusinesses that wrote in against the proposal said that "many noncitizensmay not be able to apply for an extension of stay or have it approved in atimely fashion, thereby delaying the possible start dates of employees and/orcause them to lose potential job candidates," the DHS added.
TheDHS, however, said that it still supports the goal of the proposal, which was"to protect the integrity of programmes that admit nonimmigrants in the F,J, and I" visa categories and would analyse it while ensuring that itconformed to Biden's executive order issued in February on "restoringfaith in our legal immigration systems."
Typically,students in PhD or research programmes or pursuing other advanced degreesrequire more than four years.
Studentstransitioning to practical training programmes could also be affected,impacting businesses that rely on foreign students to power their development.