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BALTIMORE, MD – Attorney General Anthony G. Brown joined a multistate coalition in filing an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to block a Trump administration rule restricting international students to a fixed four-year visa period while litigation continues. For more than four decades, federal regulations for international students and academic exchange participants have been based on the “duration of status” principle, allowing students and other academic visitors to receive visas that remain in effect while they complete their degree, medical residency, or other programs.
In the brief, Attorney General Brown and the coalition argue that a rigid four-year visa regulation, which can only be extended at the whim of the Trump administration, will cause severe disruption to students and institutions of higher education, wreak havoc on graduate education and academic research, and threaten the economic growth, stability, and innovation of the coalition states.
“International students strengthen Maryland’s colleges and universities, and this arbitrary four-year limit puts their education and their futures at risk,” said Attorney General Brown. “My Office is joining this coalition to defend the decades-old legal standard that gives students time to complete their programs based on how long they actually take.”
In the brief, Attorney General Brown and the coalition assert that the rule is incompatible with higher education programs, will discourage prospective students from studying in the United States, will impose significant burdens and limits on academic programs, and will harm state and local economies. Not only are international students a large portion of the academic community, but the durations of their respective programs often exceed the arbitrary four-year limit imposed by the rule. Nationally, as of 2024, the average time needed to complete graduate or doctoral studies was 7.2 years from the beginning of graduate school, and 5.7 years from the commencement of the doctoral program itself – far exceeding the administration’s proposed four-year cap. Without the guarantee that they can complete their education and training, international students will be discouraged from studying in the United States.
Aside from the rich and diverse viewpoints, interests, and skillsets international students bring that enhance the quality of learning institutions and local communities, these students also pay tuition and fees that contribute to colleges and universities’ ability to provide courses and financial aid to residents. Maryland’s public universities, such as the University of Maryland, College Park and the University of Maryland, Baltimore, will feel the negative impacts of this rule, including significant declines in graduate student enrollment, reduced tuition revenue, loss of academic talent, disruption of research, and fewer courses and research opportunities for their communities.
In filing the brief, Attorney General Brown joins the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaiʻi, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Virgina and Wisconsin.
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