Bolt from the blue

Editor's note: In this weekly feature China Daily gives voice to Asia and its people. The stories presented come mainly from the Asia News Network (ANN), of which China Daily is among its 20 leading titles.

Asian academic aspirants are closely studying the United States' new cap of four years for international students as part of changes introduced to the country's F1 study visa.

The F1 visa is a nonimmigrant visa that allows international students to study in the US.

Prospective students must now recalibrate their optional stays, job searches and trips back home according to shorter timelines and stronger penalties for overstaying.

On July 16, the US President Donald Trump's administration finalized stricter rules for foreign students.

More than 70 percent of international students in the US are from Asia, with most originating from China and India.

The new rules limit their stay to four years, or less, if the course is shorter. Until now, foreign students could stay in the US as long as it took to finish their course if they adhered to other visa regulations.

The new rules will also restrict students' ability to switch programs or transfer between universities and colleges.

The grace period — the period of lawful stay in the US after completing an academic program during which a foreign student may prepare for departure — has also been shortened from 60 to 30 days.

The Department of Homeland Security said the policy, which comes into effect in September, "combats rampant visa abuse and strengthens national security through regular vetting".

"For decades, foreign students have been admitted into the US indefinitely, allowing thousands to abuse our immigration system by perpetually enrolling in courses to avoid having to leave the US," said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

The Trump administration has been tightening visa rules for work, study and visit, as part of a wide-ranging immigration crackdown.

Students and education consultants in Asia said they have been bracing themselves for this fresh complication with F1 student visas.

Analysts told The Straits Times that the new visa rules are unlikely to have a major impact on foreign students who are already in the US, or those who are set on going there, as the new fixed term of up to four years should cover the duration of most undergraduate and graduate programs.

But PhD students with a longer course duration will have to apply for extensions, ahead of the expiry of their visas, to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services. Earlier, the universities could themselves extend the students' stay.

"With every visa rule change, building a career in the US becomes a harder task," said a 21-year-old data science student from the Indian city of Mumbai who has been applying for a master's and doctorate in the US, which together would take at least six years.

"It's America's loss, not mine," he said, but admitted that "it is unfair that I have to change my dreams due to shortsighted political priorities".

Numbering more than 363,000 — roughly a third of the total number of international students in the US — Indians currently form the largest share of foreign students.

"Earlier, it was the US government's responsibility to find people who were out of their student visa status. The new rule puts the onus on the students to prove more often that they are not out of status," said Nistha Tripathi, founder of 24NorthStar, an overseas career and education consultancy in Gurgaon, India.

While being an attempt to "tighten the noose on immigrant overstays without approval", Tripathi said "its effect on genuine students is not insignificant".

"Students face bigger issues like the more stringent H1-B work visas, shrinking jobs and the falling rupee, all of which hit the return on investment of a US education. The F1 rules add to these existing pressures," she said.