A State Department proposal would give the agency broader authority to terminate the legal status of J-1 exchange visitors after a visa revocation, a change ACE and other higher education associations say lacks safeguards and could create more uncertainty for international students and scholars.In comments submitted Sept. 30, the groups called for the proposal to be withdrawn, pointing in particular to a provision that would allow the State Department to terminate an individual’s J-1 program participation with “immediate effect” after a visa is revoked. The individual would then be expected to leave the country immediately or risk being deported.
It also would add a new basis for termination: when an exchange visitor falsifies or fails to provide complete and truthful information during the application process.
The higher education groups told the State Department that they support this provision and welcomed the proposed process for challenging those determinations. The concern centers on the much broader authority tied to visa revocations, particularly the lack of a clear standard for these decisions and a process for challenging them.
Those concerns are heightened by federal actions in 2025, when colleges and universities reported that international students’ visas were revoked and their records terminated in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) without adequate notice or explanation and with little opportunity to correct errors.
The J-1 Exchange Visitor Program plays a significant role in higher education and research. Colleges and universities use it to bring postdoctoral researchers, professors, physicians, medical residents, and other scholars to the United States, including individuals who may not qualify for an H-1B employment visa or an F-1 student visa. J-1 participants in higher education are predominantly in STEM fields.
The comments also place the proposed rule in the context of a series of federal immigration actions affecting international students and scholars, including efforts to end duration of status and anticipated restrictions on Optional Practical Training and Curricular Practical Training.
More than 1 million international students attend U.S. colleges and universities each year, generating an estimated $42.9 billion in economic activity and supporting more than 355,000 U.S. jobs. Taken together, the groups said, these policies risk making the United States a less attractive destination for international students and scholars at a time when institutions are already seeing declines in international enrollment.