One day before it was set to take effect, a federal district court blocked the DHS rule ending “duration of status” (D/S) for F-1, J-1, and I nonimmigrants. On September 14, 2026, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) entered a nationwide preliminary injunction barring DHS and ICE from implementing the rule while the litigation...
Federal Court Blocks the New F-1 Rule One Day Before It Took Effect
On August 18, 2026, a coalition of university groups and labor unions filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to block the rule ending duration of status that I wrote about last month. They filed a motion for a preliminary injunction along with the complaint. The lawsuit claims that DHS...
The New F-1 Rule Ending Duration Of Status: What It Means For Day 1 CPT By Chris Prescott, Partner, PSBP Law On July 17, 2026, DHS published a final rule eliminating “duration of status” (D/S) for F-1 students and replacing it with a fixed period of admission, capped at four years, effective September 15, 2026....