Amid visa uncertainty, international students look for support

A young woman stepped up to the microphone during a panel at this year’s APS Global Physics Summit in Denver. She was an international Ph.D. student graduating from a U.S. institution in May, she said. Ordinarily a cause for celebration, the upcoming milestone was instead marked by confusion over her career options — the result of proposed changes to international student and visiting scholar visas in the U.S. “I’m having nightmares,” she said.

Most significantly, the rule changes would eliminate the so-called “Duration of Status” (D/S) policy, which allows students and exchange visitors to remain in the U.S. as long as they are progressing toward a degree or exchange objectives, or if they are engaging in the Optional Training Program (OPT), an authorization that allows them to work in the U.S. after graduation. Under the new rule, students’ stay would be limited to a fixed period not to exceed four years. After four years, students would need to apply for an extension, although little is known about how that process will work.

The student asked if the changes would affect her application to OPT. Andrew Rodgers, an immigration lawyer on the panel, explained that under the new rule, OPT would still exist but the application would require more steps and fees.

The Trump administration proposed the changes to duration of status in August 2025 and as of press time, have not yet implemented the revision, although it’s now in the final review stage and expected to be finalized soon. Once the rule is implemented, interest groups are likely to file lawsuits against it, according to Rodgers.

A major source of anxiety is not only the rule changes themselves but the uncertainty of when they will go into effect, several international students and scholars told APS News. “A firm ‘no' is better than keeping you hanging,” said one postdoctoral researcher from India, who requested anonymity. “If they just gave us a clear rule, we could do long-term planning.”

The rule change would be “a major disruption to the model of graduate education in physics and in STEM generally,” said Bennett Goldberg of Northwestern University. Currently, it takes a student more than six years, on average, to complete a physics Ph.D. Departments would need to consider whether they could offer the degree in four years. It could also affect universities’ practice of having graduate students teach classes to fund their research, as teaching tends to prolong the time to degree.

The restrictions also vary depending on the student’s country of origin. Recently, the Trump administration paused immigration applications from 39 countries. Of those, Nigeria and Iran have the most international students in the U.S. Students from those countries have fewer “avenues for relief,” said Rodgers.

What students and faculty can do

The panel stressed that international students and researchers and their faculty can take concrete steps to prepare, even amid uncertainty.

Goldberg called on physics faculty to become more informed about the issues and to start planning. “Faculty are aware of the visa changes, but very few have considered what to do about it,” he said. “That uncertainty leads to a phase of inaction, avoidance, and head-in-the-sand policy.”

One step students can take, with faculty support, is to maintain a comprehensive CV. The CV should clearly state the student’s “educational objective,” said Rodgers, and it should list everything the student has done in support of that objective. Students may want to include activities typically omitted on a CV, such as conference attendance or a summer course. Such a document could help students communicate their educational progress to an immigration officer when applying for an extension of status. APS is planning to release a template for such a CV, said Goldberg.

APS has also prepared a toolkit for faculty to use to support their international students, which will be released when the rule changes go into effect. In the meantime, “faculty absolutely have to start talking to their international students,” said Michael Wittmann, the APS head of education. “They have to take seriously the emotional state their students are in.”

So far, many international students “have a sense they’re not being supported,” said Goldberg, who helped conduct a focus group.

One graduate student from Vietnam, enrolled in a program in Louisiana, hopes that faculty will be “empathetic of international students’ workload,” he said. “Faculty don’t have any control over what is going to happen, but they can control how they're treating their students.” He suggests faculty check in on students more often, because “mental health stress is going to be the biggest issue that students are going to face.”

Many international students who feel isolated want peers and faculty to understand their plight. To give voice to these students and scholars, APS News spoke to five of them. Their stories are recounted below.

The experience of international students, in their own words

Who: Third-year undergraduate in Massachusetts
Nationality: Sri Lanka
Visa type: F-1
Their story: I grew up watching American TV shows. We're all shown the American dream, where you can get a degree, a job, a house. It looks so beautiful. My whole life I'd wanted to come to the U.S. for schooling. I picked my current school because of the research opportunities.

Now, my plans to get a Ph.D. in the U.S. have been uprooted. Most grad students I know get to try different research to figure out what they like. I don’t know yet if I want to do experimental or theoretical research, let alone particle or nuclear physics. If they limit international students to four years, I’m worried that I would have to pick something and stick to it even if I didn’t like it. I’m considering Europe for graduate school, because I need institutional support. It's not tenable to maintain the level of stress that I have every day about immigration policy.

Who: A third-year Ph.D. student in Louisiana
Nationality: Vietnam
Visa type: F-1
Their story: The problem is the uncertainty. It makes it difficult to plan. Last summer, I cancelled a trip to visit my collaborators in Europe. I have valid legal status in the U.S., but my F-1 visa, which allows me to re-enter the U.S. if I leave the country, is expired. Under normal circumstances, I would go home to Vietnam for a month in the summer and apply for a new visa from there. But now, I must consider if the U.S. government will delay the process or doesn’t grant me a new visa. I cannot take that risk.

The proposed change would most affect first and second-year students. As a third-year, I consider myself relatively safe. I am planning to get a master’s along the way to my Ph.D. If anything disrupts my Ph.D., at least I will have a completed degree.

Who: A recent Ph.D. graduate in Illinois
Nationality: Iran
Visa type: F-1
Their story: After defending my dissertation in December 2025, I secured a job offer. However, due to a Dec. 2 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy memorandum that has paused OPT and employment authorization processing for many international graduates, my work authorization has been delayed. As a result, I lost that job opportunity. Despite following all regulations and maintaining status, my ability to transition from student to workforce has been disrupted. Right now, I have no income, and I am living with friends.

Who: Second-year graduate student in West Virginia
Nationality: A country in the Caribbean
Visa type: F-1
Their story: We talked a lot about the proposed policy changes on my campus last semester, but I think many people have forgotten about it. Most of the people in my building are domestic students, and the international student community is fragmented enough that we don’t get much of a chance to talk about it. I wish faculty would check in a bit more. I know there’s nothing they can do about it, but they could ask us how it was affecting us.

My current trajectory is fine, tentatively. I started my Ph.D. in August 2024, and my I-20 form says my expected graduation date is May 2029. I was able to go back to my country and renew my visa last semester. But the proposed policy changes would affect me if I had to renew my visa again, because I think I would have to have a much stronger argument for extra time to finish my Ph.D. I also think it's going to make people around the world start questioning whether it’s worth it to get a higher-level education in the U.S., when other places might welcome them.

Who: Postdoc in Florida
Nationality: India
Visa type: J-1
Their story: I came to the U.S. in April 2024 on a J-1 visa, which would allow me to stay for up to five years. But with the proposed limitation of J-1 visas to four years, I don’t know how to plan. My two-year postdoc contract at my current university has just ended. My original plan was to do a postdoc at NASA next, but due to funding issues, NASA centers have few postdoc positions available, and I could not get one, even with a strong research profile. I may no longer have the opportunity to work at NASA because their postdoctoral positions typically require a minimum commitment of two years. If I apply for next year, I will already have used three of the proposed four-year limitation.

I never had a mindset to settle here forever. I wanted to collaborate because the U.S. conducts the premier research in my field. I came here with the proper permission and funding. I planned to return to India and continue to collaborate with U.S. scientists.

Another professor offered me a position three months ago, but it fell through due to changing funding policy. I don’t know if I can get another position. At this point, I have not secured another position and will have to return to India.

Editor’s Note: APS supports students and scholars, as well as physics departments, as they navigate the changing visa landscape. For supporting resources and more information about APS’ advocacy on this and other critical issues, please visit:

APS resources for international students and scholars in the U.S.
Global Physics Summit recorded panel on proposed visa changes (March 16, 2026)
White paper on the proposed changes to student and scholar visas (Jan. 9, 2026)
APS News article on the proposed changes to the duration of status policy (Nov. 17, 2025)
Recorded webinar on studying in the U.S. as an international student (Nov. 5, 2025)
Amici curiae brief, filed in support of students affected by visa revocation (Oct. 31, 2025)
APS’ public comment to the DHS Secretary on the proposed D/S rule change (Sept. 11, 2025)
Letter from APS leadership to international colleagues (Aug. 15, 2025)