US student visas: the four-year cap is real, the $250 fee is not being charged

From 15 September 2026 a US student visa will no longer be issued for duration of status. That rule is real and it is final. But two things are being told wrong: it does not reach back the way the panic suggests, and the $250 fee everybody quotes is still not being collected.

The document, and the date

This is a final rule, not a proposal out for comment. The Department of Homeland Security published it in the Federal Register on 17 July 2026 at 91 FR 44976, RIN 1653-AA95, effective 15 September 2026.

The substance: F student visas and J exchange visas are admitted for a fixed period of up to four years, and never longer than the period shown on the I-20 or DS-2019. The I category, for foreign media, is set at 240 days.

Who it touches, and who it does not

• A student holding valid status on 15 September 2026 does not have to file an I-539 that day. The transition group runs to an outer limit of 14 November 2030 and keeps a 60-day grace period.
• Anyone entering on or after 15 September 2026 gets the tighter treatment: the departure grace period after a programme ends drops from 60 days to 30.
• Anyone applying for OPT or STEM OPT who files the I-765 before 18 March 2027 does not have to file an I-539 alongside it.

Put plainly, a child part-way through a degree is not being sent home in September. But a family planning something longer than four years, an undergraduate degree running straight into a master's, should expect at least one extension mid-course, with the paperwork and the waiting that implies.

The $250 fee: enacted, not charged

The statutory basis is real. Section 100007 of Public Law 119-21, signed 4 July 2025, codified at 8 U.S.C. 1806. Nobody has been charged it.

USCIS said as much in its own Federal Register notice at 90 FR 34511: the visa integrity fee requires cross-agency coordination before implementing, and the fee will be implemented in a future publication. Search the Federal Register through 25 August 2026 and there is no implementing document.

Three further points get garbled:

• $250 is a floor, not a fixed price. The statute sets the fee at the greater of $250 or such amount as the Secretary may establish by rule. The eventual charge can be higher.
• It is additional to the $185 MRV visa application fee, not a replacement for it.
• On refunds, the statute says the Secretary may reimburse. That is discretionary, and no refund mechanism exists today. Anyone describing the money as recoverable is going beyond the text.

One more variable

The four-year rule is under challenge. Presidents' Alliance v. DHS, no. 1:26-cv-13799, was filed in the District of Massachusetts on 18 August 2026, with the motion set to be heard in September 2026, before the effective date. As of 25 August 2026 nothing has been stayed.

Which argues for a plain posture: prepare on the basis of the rule as published, do not sign a service contract that assumes a court will block it, and do not build a plan on the assumption that nothing will move either.

Looking past four years

For a family sending one child on one programme and expecting them home afterwards, the new rule is mostly extra paperwork and one more date to watch.

For a family thinking longer, degree into further study into work, a US student visa was always narrow ground. It is tied to an institution, tied to a course, and now tied to a four-year clock.

There is another order of operations worth weighing: residence first, study second. A child studying as a permanent resident pays domestic tuition, and their right to remain no longer depends on staying enrolled. It is neither faster nor cheaper, so it only makes sense for a family already thinking about moving for the long run. The routes are set out on our US immigration page, with the other countries compared on the immigration overview.

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The information in this article is for reference at the time of writing. It is not legal advice and no outcome is promised — immigration policy, tax rules and market conditions can change. For an assessment based on your family's specific circumstances, please request a consultation with the VNIS Investment team.