• Mon - Fri 9.00 - 19.00
Open

Author Archives: Francisca Samuel

Tamara's World  /  Articles by: Francisca Samuel

Author: Francisca Samuel

Francisca Samuel is an editor at Tamara News, where she covers immigration, travel, business and technology news for readers across Africa and the Gulf.

25 Aug 2026
Russia sanctions bill Senate

Senate Passes Sweeping Russia Sanctions Bill in 86-11 Vote

Categories World

The US Senate has passed one of the toughest Russia sanctions packages of the war. On August 7, 2026, senators voted 86-11 to approve the Russia sanctions bill Senate negotiators had been assembling for months, formally named the Lindsey O. Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026 in honor of the late senator who championed it. The bill now heads to the House, which returns from recess in September.

What the Russia sanctions bill Senate vote approved

Russia sanctions bill Senate

The legislation gives President Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries that keep buying Russian oil and gas, singling out major purchasers such as China and India, according to NPR. It also places mandatory sanctions on senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, along with oligarchs, state-owned enterprises and foreign companies that support Russia’s defense industrial base. A separate provision extends sanctions against Iran, tying the bill to the broader pressure campaign Washington has been building against Tehran.

Why the bill carries Graham’s name

Senator Lindsey Graham had championed Russia sanctions legislation for years before his death, and colleagues moved to name the bill in his honor after he secured a late agreement with the White House on its scope, according to Al Jazeera. The bipartisan 86-11 margin reflects rare consensus in a chamber that has been split on other Ukraine-related spending questions.

What it means for global energy buyers

The threat of tariffs as high as 100% is aimed squarely at pressuring China and India, the two largest remaining buyers of discounted Russian crude, to scale back purchases. Energy traders are watching closely: any move to enforce the tariffs at full strength could reshape global oil flows in ways reminiscent of the disruption already rippling from Gulf tensions, covered in our report on the Strait of Hormuz tanker attacks. Central banks, including the Federal Reserve, are factoring renewed energy-price risk into their outlook, a theme we explored in our coverage of the Fed’s July rate hold.

Where the sanctions bill goes from here

The bill needs House approval before it can reach the president’s desk, and the House is not scheduled to return from recess until September. Even if it clears Congress, the White House retains discretion over how aggressively to enforce the tariff provisions, meaning implementation could move more slowly than the legislative text suggests. Diplomats will also be watching whether the bill affects ongoing, if strained, back-channel talks over Ukraine.

House leadership has signaled general support for the sanctions framework but has not committed to a floor vote timeline, and some members are expected to push for amendments narrowing or broadening specific provisions before final passage. Trade groups representing energy and shipping companies with exposure to Russian and Iranian markets are already lobbying for clearer guidance on compliance timelines, warning that ambiguity in how secondary sanctions will be enforced could disrupt legitimate transactions alongside the intended targets. Sanctions experts note that similar legislation in the past has taken months to move from Senate passage to full implementation, suggesting companies have some runway to adjust before the toughest provisions take effect.

Russia sanctions bill: frequently asked questions

What did the Senate vote on August 7 approve?
Senators voted 86-11 to pass a bill sanctioning Russian officials, oligarchs and energy buyers, and extending sanctions on Iran.

What is the Russia sanctions bill Senate margin significant for?
An 86-11 vote signals rare bipartisan agreement, increasing the odds the House will also act once it returns from recess.

Who does the bill target?
It targets senior Russian officials including Putin, Russian oligarchs, state-owned enterprises, defense-linked foreign firms, and countries that continue buying Russian energy.

Why is it named after Lindsey Graham?
Graham had long championed Russia sanctions legislation and reached a late deal with the White House on its scope shortly before his death.

Could tariffs on China and India actually reach 100%?
The bill grants the president that authority, but enforcement is discretionary, so the real-world tariff level will depend on White House decisions.

When could the bill become law?
It first needs House passage, which cannot happen before lawmakers return from recess in September, followed by presidential signature.

25 Aug 2026
Iran economic pressure campaign

US Launches Global Economic Pressure Campaign on Iran

Categories World

The United States has opened a new phase of financial pressure on Iran. On August 24, 2026, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled what officials are calling “Operation Economic Outcast,” an Iran economic pressure campaign designed to cut off five of the country’s main revenue lifelines: oil, shipping, aviation, gold and digital assets. The announcement, delivered as Bessent described an “economic D-Day,” marks the most sweeping US Treasury action against Tehran since fighting between the two countries resumed earlier this year.

What the Iran economic pressure campaign targets

Iran economic pressure campaign

The Treasury imposed fresh sanctions on 60 entities, vessels and individuals spanning the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Switzerland, according to NPR. Officials said the goal is to make it functionally impossible for international buyers, shippers and financial institutions to keep doing business tied to Iranian oil, gold or crypto without risking exposure to secondary US sanctions. Unlike a single sanctions list, the campaign is structured as an ongoing pressure track: new designations are expected in waves rather than a single announcement.

Notably, the toughest measures have not yet been deployed. US officials told reporters the expanded “secondary” sanctions are likely to remain the primary tool at least until after the US midterm elections, holding the heaviest options in reserve.

Why Washington escalated now

The move follows months of renewed hostilities between the US and Iran and comes days after the United Arab Emirates accused Iran of orchestrating attacks on two tankers linked to the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in the Strait of Hormuz — part of a broader pattern of regional escalation covered in our report on UAE halting Iran trade after the tanker attacks. Bessent said President Trump has personally been calling world leaders with “specific requests” to stop trading with Tehran, according to Al Jazeera, signaling that the campaign is as much diplomatic as financial.

How the region is reacting

Iran has warned it could respond by targeting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s busiest oil corridors. Gulf states have moved to shore up their own security arrangements; the recently signed Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, detailed in our earlier coverage of the pact, reflects how regional governments are hedging against further escalation. Oil prices have already climbed on the uncertainty, trading near multi-month highs as traders price in supply risk.

What happens next in the Iran pressure campaign

Analysts expect the Treasury to roll out additional designations in the coming weeks rather than a single decisive strike, keeping pressure on shipping insurers, refiners and crypto exchanges that touch Iranian-linked funds. Whether the campaign changes Tehran’s calculus will depend largely on whether China, the largest buyer of Iranian oil, scales back purchases under the threat of secondary sanctions. Congress is separately weighing sanctions legislation that could harden these measures further once lawmakers return from recess in September.

Iran sanctions campaign: frequently asked questions

What is Operation Economic Outcast?
It is the US Treasury’s codename for a new sanctions campaign targeting Iran’s oil, shipping, aviation, gold and digital asset revenue, announced August 24, 2026.

Who does the Iran economic pressure campaign target?
It targets international entities, vessels and individuals in countries including the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Switzerland that facilitate Iranian trade.

Has the US imposed its toughest sanctions yet?
No. Officials say the harshest secondary sanctions are being held in reserve, with the current wave expected to be the main tool at least until after the US midterm elections.

How has Iran responded?
Iran has warned of possible retaliation against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, a route that carries a significant share of global oil trade.

Is this connected to the Strait of Hormuz tanker attacks?
The sanctions campaign follows a period of rising tension that included attacks on tankers linked to the UAE, though officials have not formally tied the two events together.

What should businesses with Iran-linked exposure watch for?
Firms in shipping, insurance, aviation and crypto with any Iran-linked counterparties should expect additional Treasury designations in the coming weeks and review compliance exposure accordingly.

24 Aug 2026
An international airport departure area, illustrating travel on advance parole and the new re-entry bar risk

BIA Ruling Means Advance Parole Travel Can Trigger a Re-Entry Bar

Categories Immigration

A decision by the Board of Immigration Appeals has removed a protection that many people relied on for more than a decade. From 13 August 2026, travel on advance parole counts as a departure from the United States for the purposes of the unlawful presence bars — meaning that leaving the country with a government-issued advance parole document can now trigger the three-year or ten-year bar to admission for someone who has accrued unlawful presence. The case is Matter of Delcarmen-Lara, 29 I&N Dec. 830 (BIA 2026), and it expressly overrules Matter of Arrabally and Yerrabelly, 25 I&N Dec. 771 (BIA 2012).

An aircraft in flight, illustrating how travel on advance parole can now trigger a US re-entry bar

The practical consequence is narrow but severe. It does not affect everyone who holds an advance parole document. It matters enormously for the subset who have periods of unlawful presence behind them and who assumed, correctly until this month, that authorised travel carried no re-entry penalty.

Why travel on advance parole now carries a bar risk

Section 212(a)(9)(B) of the Immigration and Nationality Act makes a person inadmissible for three years if they accrued more than 180 days of unlawful presence and then departed, and for ten years if they accrued a year or more and then departed. In 2012, Arrabally held that a temporary trip abroad on advance parole was qualitatively different, because it presupposed a return and the continuation of an adjustment application, and so was not the kind of departure that triggered the bar.

The Board has now rejected that reading. Its reasoning is textual: Congress used the word “departure” without defining it, did not write an advance parole exception into section 212(a)(9)(B), and elsewhere in the statute showed that it knew how to address advance parole expressly when it wanted to. The Board acknowledged that treating authorised travel as a triggering departure can produce a harsh result, but concluded the text did not permit an exception.

The decision directly concerns the ten-year bar at section 212(a)(9)(B)(i)(II). Because the same word “departure” appears in the three-year provision, and because agencies had applied the Arrabally rationale to both, commentators expect the reasoning to reach the three-year bar as well.

Who is most exposed to the change

The people with the most at stake are those whose route to a green card depended on the combination of an advance parole departure and a parole re-entry. Under section 245(a), an applicant for adjustment of status must have been inspected and admitted or paroled, and must be admissible for permanent residence. For someone who originally entered without inspection, returning on advance parole supplied the missing “paroled” element. After Delcarmen-Lara, that same trip may now create an inadmissibility problem that blocks the adjustment it was meant to enable.

Groups that should look closely include:

  • DACA recipients considering travel on advance parole. The respondent in the case had been granted DACA in 2013 and was paroled back into the country in January 2024.
  • Temporary Protected Status beneficiaries who travel on advance parole.
  • Adjustment applicants with any earlier period of unlawful presence, including those who entered without inspection.
  • Anyone whose longer-term immigration plan assumes a future advance parole trip will be consequence-free.

Equally important is who is not affected. If you have never accrued unlawful presence — because you were always in a period of authorised stay, or because any gaps were shorter than the statutory thresholds, or because time in certain protected categories did not count — the bars in section 212(a)(9)(B) are not triggered by a departure at all. The unlawful presence calculation is technical and highly fact-dependent, which is precisely why a case-by-case review with an immigration attorney matters more here than in most policy stories.

The ruling looks forward, not back

Because it was overruling long-standing precedent that people had relied on, the Board carried out a retroactivity analysis and held that the new rule applies prospectively. Advance parole travel completed before 13 August 2026 is not governed by Delcarmen-Lara; travel on or after that date is.

That limitation is meaningful for pending cases, and it preserves an argument that earlier trips should still be assessed under Arrabally. It is not, however, a guarantee. The exact scope of the prospective holding is the kind of question that gets refined through agency guidance and federal court litigation, and the immigration bar has already flagged it as unsettled. Commentators have also questioned whether the Board should be reworking its own favourable interpretations by invoking the Supreme Court’s move away from judicial deference, and note that federal courts remain free to read the statute independently.

What to weigh before booking a trip

There is no need for panic, and equally no room for improvisation. If you hold advance parole and have any history of unlawful presence, the sequence that makes sense is: establish the facts, get advice, then decide about travel — not the other way round.

That means building an accurate timeline of every period of status and every gap, identifying whether any gap crossed the 180-day or one-year thresholds, and checking whether periods such as deferred action or certain pending applications counted as authorised stay. A later period of authorised stay does not erase unlawful presence already accrued. Once the timeline is clear, an attorney can assess whether a departure would trigger a bar, whether a waiver route exists, and whether the trip is worth the risk. For urgent humanitarian travel the analysis may still favour going; for a holiday it rarely will.

Watch for two developments. USCIS guidance implementing the decision would clarify how officers treat both the three-year bar and pre-13 August travel. Federal litigation may test the Board’s reading of “departure” directly. Until either arrives, the safest working assumption is that the decision means what it says. The ruling itself is published by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, and a detailed practitioner analysis is available from Cyrus D. Mehta & Partners.

Reader questions answered

Does this affect everyone with advance parole?
No. It matters for people who have accrued unlawful presence. Without unlawful presence above the statutory thresholds, a departure does not trigger the three-year or ten-year bar.

What if I travelled on advance parole before 13 August 2026?
The Board held that the decision applies prospectively, so earlier trips are not governed by it. The precise scope of that holding may be clarified in later guidance or litigation.

Does the decision apply to the three-year bar as well as the ten-year bar?
The decision addresses the ten-year bar. Its reading of “departure” is widely expected to reach the three-year provision too, since agencies had applied the earlier precedent to both, but that has not been separately decided.

Can a bar be waived?
Waivers exist for the unlawful presence bars in some circumstances and depend on qualifying relatives and other criteria. Whether one is available is a case-specific legal question.

Should I cancel planned travel?
That is a decision to take with a licensed immigration attorney after reviewing your status history, not on the basis of a news summary.

Tamara News covers immigration policy across major destinations — see also our reporting on the UK’s Appendix FM family visa changes and New Zealand’s skilled migrant points settings.

24 Aug 2026
Immigration paperwork on a desk, illustrating a USCIS denial without RFE under the new guidance

USCIS Can Now Deny Applications Without Asking for Evidence

Categories Immigration

Filing an application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services used to come with an informal safety net: if something was missing, officers would usually ask for it before refusing the case. That expectation no longer holds. Guidance issued on 5 August 2026 means a USCIS denial without RFE is now a realistic outcome whenever a filing arrives without the required initial evidence, or with evidence that does not establish eligibility. Officers may refuse the application or petition outright, with no Request for Evidence and no Notice of Intent to Deny first.

Documents being reviewed at an office desk, illustrating a USCIS denial without RFE under the 2026 guidance

The change came through Policy Alert PA-2026-05, which updates Volume 1, Part E of the USCIS Policy Manual. It took effect immediately and applies to benefit requests pending or filed on or after 5 August 2026, unless a regulation or another USCIS policy says otherwise.

How a USCIS denial without RFE now works

The underlying authority is not new. Regulations have long allowed officers to deny a filing that lacks required initial evidence. What changed is the instruction around that authority. Earlier policy encouraged officers to issue an RFE or a NOID before denying a case with an evidentiary gap. The revised guidance restores full discretion to deny first.

USCIS has explained the change as a response to frivolous, placeholder and substantially incomplete filings, which it says added to adjudication delays. The alert also restates a principle that has always applied but now carries more weight: the applicant or petitioner bears the burden of establishing eligibility at the time of filing and throughout the adjudication.

Three further adjustments in the same alert matter in practice:

  • Shorter response windows. Officers are not required to allow the customary maximum RFE response period and may set shorter deadlines, within the regulatory limits, case by case.
  • No extra fortnight for international mail. The previous practice of adding 14 days when a notice was mailed to someone outside the United States, or issued by an international office, has been removed. The general rule of a few additional days for service by mail applies instead.
  • Partial responses count as final. Sending back some but not all of what an RFE or NOID asked for will ordinarily be treated as a request for USCIS to decide the case on the record as submitted.

What the guidance leaves untouched

It is worth being precise about the limits of this change, because early commentary has sometimes overstated it.

RFEs and NOIDs have not been abolished. Officers keep the discretion to issue them, and practitioners expect them to remain common in complex employment-based filings where the question is one of degree rather than a missing document. The guidance does not create a new ground of ineligibility, and it does not change the substantive legal standards for any benefit. It also does not override situations where a regulation or a separate USCIS policy requires a notice before denial.

What it does remove is the assumption that a thin filing will be met with a request rather than a refusal. For applicants who submit complete, well-documented cases from the outset, the practical effect should be limited. For anyone who has treated the initial filing as a first draft, the risk profile has shifted considerably — and a denial costs the filing fee, the processing time, and in some categories the underlying status or work authorisation.

How filings should be prepared now

None of the following is legal advice for a particular case, and readers with anything unusual in their history should consult a licensed immigration attorney. But the general implications are straightforward.

  • Check the form instructions and the required initial evidence list for the specific edition of the form being filed, and include every listed item. Omissions that once drew a request may now draw a refusal.
  • Do not file to hold a place while documents are gathered. A placeholder filing is exactly what the guidance targets.
  • Explain the evidence rather than leaving officers to infer eligibility. Where a required document genuinely does not exist, address that in a cover letter with secondary evidence rather than staying silent.
  • If an RFE does arrive, read the deadline carefully rather than assuming the maximum period, and begin gathering material immediately. Applicants outside the United States should assume less mail time than before.
  • Respond in full. A partial response invites a decision on an incomplete record.

Documentary rigour is becoming the norm across major destinations, not only in the United States; readers comparing systems may find our explainer on proof of funds requirements in the UK, Canada and Australia a useful parallel, alongside our coverage of the UK’s Appendix FM family visa changes.

Where this leaves applicants and employers

The immediate effect is on filings already in the queue, because the guidance reaches benefit requests pending on 5 August 2026 as well as those filed afterwards. Anyone with a case in progress that was assembled on the older assumption may want to review it with counsel and consider whether to supplement the record before an officer reaches it.

For employers, the practical work is process work: build longer evidence-gathering time into filing calendars, avoid last-minute submissions timed to a deadline, and make sure someone is monitoring the post so a shortened RFE deadline is not missed. For individuals, the calculation is similar on a smaller scale. Watch, too, for how the guidance is applied in practice over the coming months — denial rates and the tone of adjudications will show whether this is a modest recalibration or a substantial tightening. The primary sources are the USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 1, Part E and the American Immigration Lawyers Association’s summary of the policy alert.

Common questions about the new guidance

When did the guidance take effect?
5 August 2026. It applies to benefit requests pending on that date or filed on or after it, unless a regulation or another USCIS policy provides otherwise.

Does this mean RFEs have been abolished?
No. Officers retain discretion to issue Requests for Evidence and Notices of Intent to Deny. The guidance removes the expectation that one will be issued before a denial.

Which filings are affected?
The guidance sits in the general evidentiary part of the Policy Manual, so it reaches benefit requests broadly rather than a single visa category, subject to any regulation or policy that requires notice in a specific context.

Can a denial be challenged?
Depending on the benefit type, options can include a motion to reopen or reconsider, an appeal, or refiling. Which of these is available and sensible is case-specific and worth discussing with an attorney promptly, because deadlines are short.

Has the RFE response deadline changed?
Officers may now set shorter response periods within the regulatory limits rather than defaulting to the maximum, and the extra 14 days previously allowed for notices sent internationally has been removed.

For more on how documentation rules are tightening elsewhere, see our coverage of Canada’s French-language Express Entry draws.

24 Aug 2026
International students on a university campus, illustrating the duration of status rule for F and J visas

US Ends Duration of Status for F and J Visa Holders

Categories Immigration

The United States is ending the open-ended admission system that has governed international students and exchange visitors for decades. Under a duration of status rule published by the Department of Homeland Security in the Federal Register on 17 July 2026, F academic students, J exchange visitors and I representatives of foreign information media will no longer be admitted for “duration of status” — the D/S notation that allowed them to remain for as long as they complied with their programme. From 15 September 2026 they will instead be admitted until a fixed date printed on their Form I-94, and anyone who needs longer must ask U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for more time.

A US visa page in a passport, illustrating the duration of status rule for F and J visa holders

The change affects students at every level, visiting researchers, physicians, au pairs and foreign correspondents worldwide. Below is what is in force, what takes effect next month, and what is only a proposal.

What the duration of status rule actually does

The final rule strikes every reference to “duration of status” from the DHS regulations covering F, J and I nonimmigrants and replaces it with fixed periods of admission.

  • F and J: admission for the length of the programme shown on the Form I-20 or DS-2019, not to exceed four years. For F-1 students the period ends earlier if an OPT or STEM OPT employment authorisation document expires first.
  • Arrival and departure windows: a 30-day period before the programme start date and a 30-day period afterwards, neither of which counts toward the four-year maximum.
  • I nonimmigrants: admission for up to 240 days, or up to 90 days for most holders of passports issued by the People’s Republic of China, excluding Hong Kong SAR and Macau SAR passports.
  • Extensions: anyone who needs more time must file Form I-539 with USCIS before their authorised stay ends, provide biometrics if asked, and pay the applicable fee — or leave and seek readmission at a port of entry.

For F-1 students, the rule narrows acceptable extension reasons to compelling academic reasons, a documented illness or medical condition, or circumstances beyond the student’s control. Academic probation, suspension or repeated inability to finish coursework are described as generally unacceptable.

One consequence is easy to overlook. Under D/S, unlawful presence generally did not accrue until USCIS found a status violation or a judge ordered removal. Once admission ends on a fixed date, someone who overstays without a timely extension application will generally begin accruing unlawful presence straight away.

New limits on transfers, programme changes and departure time

Several restrictions in the same rule have nothing to do with fixed dates but will change day-to-day academic life. They sit in the DHS final rule, not in any State Department proposal.

  • The period an F-1 student has to prepare to depart after completing a course of study or post-completion practical training drops from 60 days to 30 days. A student who stops study or training early must leave, or act to maintain or change status, within 30 days.
  • F-1 students generally must complete their first academic year at the school that issued their initial Form I-20 before transferring or changing educational objective, unless the Student and Exchange Visitor Program authorises an exception.
  • Students at graduate level or above are barred from changing educational objective at any point in the programme, and from transferring schools absent an SEVP exception for extenuating circumstances.
  • Progression must be upward: after completing one educational level, a student may only begin a programme at a higher level, not the same or a lower one.
  • Language training is capped at an aggregate 24 months, including breaks and annual vacation.

Anyone weighing study destinations may also want our guide to proof of funds for the UK, Canada and Australia in 2026.

A separate State Department proposal on J-1 terminations

Thirteen days later, the State Department issued something different in kind. On 30 July 2026 it published a proposed rule on the Exchange Visitor Program covering termination of programme participation, extensions and reinstatement. A proposed rule changes nothing until it is finalised, and this one has not been.

As proposed, it would authorise the Department, in its discretion, to terminate an exchange visitor’s programme in limited circumstances — among them where a visa has been revoked with immediate effect, where unauthorised employment has occurred, or where false information was provided during the programme. Exchange visitors would have 10 business days to file a written statement of opposition to certain Department-issued terminations.

The proposal would also compress the window for sponsors to correct many SEVIS status errors from 120 days to 30 days, after which formal reinstatement with a $367 fee would be required. Requests to extend a programme beyond the maximum permitted duration would have to be filed at least 90 days ahead, with no exceptions for late filings. The public comment window runs for 60 days from 30 July 2026 and was still open when this article was published.

Dates to put in the diary

The effective date is 15 September 2026, but two things could still move it. The rule is classified as a major rule subject to congressional review; DHS has said it will publish a further Federal Register document if that process changes the effective date or terminates the rule. Separately, on 18 August 2026 a coalition including NAFSA, the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration and several unions filed a complaint and a motion for a preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, arguing the rule is unlawful under the Administrative Procedure Act. No ruling on that motion had been issued as of publication.

Transition provisions matter for people already in the country. F and J nonimmigrants who are properly maintaining status on the effective date and who were admitted for D/S will be authorised to remain until the programme end date on the Form I-20 or DS-2019 that is valid on that date, capped at four years from the effective date. Travelling abroad and returning after 15 September means a new I-94 with a fixed date. F-1 students in the United States on that date who timely file Form I-765 for post-completion OPT or STEM OPT on or before 18 March 2027 are not required to file a separate extension application for that period. The transition rules do not reach people who are outside the United States when the rule takes effect.

Practical next steps are unglamorous: confirm your programme dates, work out the resulting outer limit with your designated school official or responsible officer, and diarise any extension filing early. Because outcomes turn on individual facts, anyone whose stay is close to the margins should speak to a qualified immigration attorney. Full texts are available from the Federal Register, the DHS Study in the States portal and the NAFSA litigation page.

Questions readers are asking

Does the duration of status rule apply to me if I am already studying in the United States?
Yes, through the transition provisions: if you are maintaining status on 15 September 2026 and were admitted for D/S, you may remain until the programme end date on your currently valid I-20 or DS-2019, capped at four years from the effective date.

Do I need a new I-94 on 15 September?
No. The transition group does not need a corrected I-94. A new I-94 with a fixed date is issued if you leave and are readmitted after the effective date.

How long can F and J holders be admitted for now?
Up to the programme length on the I-20 or DS-2019, capped at four years, plus 30 days before the start date and 30 days after.

Has the F-1 departure period really been cut to 30 days?
Yes. The final rule reduces it from 60 to 30 days after completion of a course of study or post-completion practical training.

Is the State Department J-1 termination rule in force?
No. It was published on 30 July 2026 as a proposed rule and is open for public comment. Nothing in it binds sponsors or exchange visitors unless and until a final rule is issued.

Could the effective date change?
It could. The rule is subject to congressional review, and a lawsuit seeking to block it was filed on 18 August 2026.

For related coverage on Tamara News, see our reporting on New Zealand’s skilled migrant points settings and Canada’s French-language Express Entry draws.

1 … 89 90 91 92 93 … 230