Policy Priorities

Student visa interviews were paused during peak issuance season this spring. This suspension, coupled with new social vetting protocols, interview appointment issues, and a visa ban affecting 19 countries, threaten international student enrollment on U.S. campuses this fall.

The DHS proposal to end "duration of status" (D/S) would upend the international student and exchange visitor experience in this country—miring them in academic inflexibility, uncertainty, and bureaucratic delays —while saddling institutions and government agencies with senseless administrative burdens.

NAFSA advocates for increased federal funding to ensure U.S. colleges and universities can recruit global student talent and prepare graduates with the skills necessary for future workforce success. Congress passed a continuing resolution in March 2025 to keep federal agencies funded at their current levels until September 30, 2025.

To make study abroad the norm, not the exception, for today's U.S. college students, Congress should support the Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Program Act to incentivize higher education to increase study abroad and provide a cost-effective, sustainable way to ensure more U.S. undergraduates can study internationally.