Rajiv's Comments in The Times of India - Trump administration limits visa tenure of students to a fixed period of four years and limits academic flexibility
Published by The Times of India - July 17, 2026
Quotes and Excerpts from Rajiv in the article:
Rajiv S. Khanna, managing attorney at Immigration. com told TOI, “ A similar rule to do away with ‘duration of status’ was proposed in by the earlier Trump administration but could not be finalised. It has now been revived. With a fixed expiration date on their visa, international students, such as those enrolled in higher study programmes of a longer duration (including PhD and medical students and students moving on to Optional Practical Training – OPT) would have to periodically apply for visa extensions. This will create additional unnecessary delays, financial burden and uncertainty for students. Considering that an average extension of status request can take a few months to process, these types of restrictive regulations will increase the uncertainty international students would face.”
“This represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how graduate education works. Students may discover new interests or realize their current programme isn't the best fit for their career goals. The proposed regulation treats legitimate academic change as fraud,” said Khanna.
“While targeting obvious abuse, this restriction eliminates legitimate educational pathways and assumes all education must follow a linear progression, ignoring how modern professional development actually works. For instance, a graduate in literature who wants to study computer science and opt for a complete career change may need to complete undergraduate prerequisites. Technology professionals may need regular skill updates for which they may need to pursue multiple study programmes," said Khanna.
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