Legal Challenge to the Final Rule Ending Duration of Status (D/S)

Last updated: July 30, 2026

NAFSA: Association of International Educators and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration are moving forward together with preparations for a legal challenge to the Administration’s final rule ending Duration of Status (D/S) for international students in F-1 and J-1 status. The scope and strength of the litigation, including the ability to seek a preliminary injunction, will depend significantly on the concrete, immediate, and irreparable harms that affected institutions can document through declarations.

Ending D/S would replace the current flexible system with a system that admits students for a fixed period of time: only until the program end date on their SEVIS document, but not to exceed four years, creating uncertainty for students, additional burdens for institutions, and serious ripple effects for programs such as OPT and H-1B that connect education to the U.S. workforce.

Ending D/S poses an immediate threat to international students and scholars, U.S. higher education institutions, and the nation’s economy and global competitiveness. This litigation seeks to preserve the framework that has long supported international student success, institutional stability, and U.S. leadership in education, research, and innovation.

Plantiffs

NAFSA and the Presidents’ Alliance intend to serve as lead plaintiffs. The two organizations will be represented by McDermott Will & Schulte. The litigators leading this effort will be Paul Hughes and Andrew Lyonsberg. 

The Current Need: Institutional Declarations

As part of the litigation, the plaintiffs anticipate seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent the final rule from taking effect while the court considers the case. To support the request for a preliminary injunction, declarations from affected institutions will be critical to demonstrating the concrete, immediate, and irreparable harms the rule would cause if it takes effect.

Declarations are due by August 8. If your institution is interested in submitting a declaration, please contact Andrew Lyonsberg as soon as possible at [email protected]. Institutions that are interested but unable to meet the August 8 deadline should still reach out, as there may be other opportunities to support the litigation.

Process and Timeline

Whether the litigation team seeks a preliminary injunction will depend significantly on the facts and harms institutions can identify and support through declarations. Institutions should begin conversations with the McDermott team before completing their full internal approval process. 

Litigation counsel will schedule follow-up conversations to:

• Review the potential harms;
• Determine whether the facts may support a declaration;
• Identify the appropriate declarant; and
• Begin developing declaration language if the institution decides to proceed.

Resources

More information about declarations, the types of institutional harms, and supporting information to address in a declaration is available in this resource. The examples are illustrative and are not intended to represent every type of harm an institution may experience.