Dear Erica,
Taking a brief break from nonstop World Cup-watching to bring you this message.😉[If you have a team in the tournament, I hope they are doing well and that you are reveling in the small country heroics and the colorful spectacle of fans and footballers—despite the injustices, including exorbitant ticket prices and the Somali referee being denied a visa. Watching the U.S. men play today is must-see t.v. if you ask me—who woulda thought?]
Now on to more sobering news. We learned that the Office of Management and Budget completed its review of the final Duration of Status rule on June 17. The next step will be for the Department of Homeland Security to send the rule for publication in the Federal Register. A public inspection version will be posted at least one day before it is published in the Federal Register. Until we see the public inspection copy, we will not know if any significant changes were made between the proposed rule and the final rule. We will post any updates on NAFSA's final rule page.
On June 11, the U.S. government appealed a U.S. District Court’s decision that the $100,000 H-1B fee amounted to an unlawful “tax” on foreign applicants. The next day, the District Court granted the government's request for an administrative stay of that court's judgement. This has the effect of restoring the $100,000 fee while until the U.S. Court of Appeals considers the government’s appeal. See NAFSA's page.
We also shared with you last week that a federal judge ruled that the USCIS benefits hold affecting international students from travel ban countries was unlawful. It is too soon to tell if USCIS is complying with resuming adjudications. Visit NAFSA’s website for more information.
In the good news department, a coalition of the nation's top scientists endorsed the Dignity Act, legislation introduced by Representatives Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL-27) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX-16) in 2025 that contains key provisions to attract and retain international students. The so-called GROW Coalition warned in a press release that “America's broken immigration system is making it harder to retain the very scientists, engineers, and innovators needed to keep the United States at the forefront of global innovation.”
This week, NAFSA signed onto a letter led by the American Council on Education to the U.S. Department of Education regarding proposed revisions to the foreign gifts reporting requirements of the Higher Education Act. The new changes would require institutions to report the names of foreign donors and make those names publicly available through a new online database, among other changes. The letter supports the transparency and national security goals of the regulation but argues that the proposed changes go beyond what the law requires and could create privacy and constitutional concerns.
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Thank you for reading.
Best,
Erica
Erica Stewart
Senior Director, Advocacy & Strategic Communications
NAFSA: Association of International Educators
