Traveling after September 15, 2026: returning F-1 students are still admitted for duration of status

A trip home does not cost you duration of status today. A DHS rule would have converted returning F-1 students from duration of status (D/S) to fixed-date admissions for any re-entry after September 15, 2026. A federal court postponed that rule on September 14, 2026, and DHS is barred from implementing it while the case continues. So a student who travels and comes back is readmitted for D/S, with the same 60-day grace period at the end. This page covers what re-entry requires today, then what the rule would change if the postponement ends. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(4), (f)(5)(i); 91 FR 44976

What applies today

• Returning to study. An F-1 student returning from a temporary absence of five months or less may be readmitted with a current I-20 endorsed by the DSO for reentry, or an updated I-20 if something substantive changed (a new major, a transfer, a higher level of study). 8 CFR 214.2(f)(4)
• Readmitted for D/S. Your I-94 shows "D/S," not a fixed date. Your grace period after completion is still 60 days. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(i), (f)(5)(iv)
• Returning on post-completion OPT. A student with an unexpired OPT EAD may return to resume employment after a temporary absence, using the EAD together with an I-20 endorsed for reentry by the DSO within the last six months. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(13)(ii)
• Leaving during your grace period ends it. Under longstanding SEVP guidance, a student who departs during the grace period cannot return in F-1 status on that SEVIS record.
• A pending change of status is abandoned on departure. Under long-standing USCIS policy, if you have timely applied to change to another nonimmigrant status and leave the U.S. while it is pending, USCIS considers the application abandoned. (DHS describes this as long-standing policy in the rule's preamble; the rule would write it into the regulation.) 91 FR 44976 (preamble)

Before you book: a short check, under today's rules

1. Is my I-20 endorsed for travel? Get the DSO's travel endorsement before you leave, and an updated I-20 if your program details have changed. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(4)
2. Am I on OPT? Carry your unexpired EAD and an I-20 endorsed within the last six months. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(13)(ii)
3. Is anything pending at USCIS? A pending change of status is abandoned if you leave. For anything else pending, including an OPT application, talk to your DSO before booking.
4. Am I in my grace period? Leaving ends it for re-entry on that record.
5. Has the court case moved? The postponement runs until the court orders otherwise, and the next court date is October 2, 2026. For trips that start or end after a court date, check this page or ask your DSO before you go.

What the postponed rule would change

Status: postponed nationwide by court order on September 14, 2026 (Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration v. DHS, No. 1:26-cv-13799, D. Mass., under 5 U.S.C. § 705). Next court date: October 2, 2026. This page is updated when that changes.

Everything in this section describes the final rule as published at 91 FR 44976 (July 17, 2026). None of it applies today. 91 FR 44976

The core mechanic: re-entry would convert you. Students in the U.S. on the effective date, maintaining F-1 status and admitted for D/S ("transition" students), would keep old-rules treatment only while they remained in the country. A transition student who departed and returned would be converted, on re-entry, to the fixed-date system. Re-entry would change two things: 8 CFR 214.1(a)(4), (m)(1)(ii), as amended

• The I-94. Instead of D/S, the new admission would carry fixed dates drawn from the I-20 program dates. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1), as amended
• The grace period. The 60-day period would be replaced by the fixed-period system's 30-day departure period from then on. 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5)(v), as amended

Travel would not be prohibited, but the trip would carry a price. For a student mid-program with I-20 dates comfortably ahead, the converted admission might cover the remaining studies. For a student whose protection ran years ahead, such as a student on OPT whose EAD outlasted their old I-20, it would forfeit real protection.

What a transition student would give up. Transition treatment would protect a student through the later of the I-20 program end date or EAD end date in place on the effective date, capped at four years from that date, with a 60-day departure period after. After conversion, the admission would be whatever the I-20 program dates said, and staying past a fixed date would mean Form I-539, with its fee, adjudication and wait. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1), 214.2(f)(7), as amended

The OPT carve-out and the order of operations. Under the rule, a transition student could file post-completion OPT by March 18, 2027 without an I-539, but departing the U.S. before filing would forfeit that. The sequencing would be: file the I-765 first, travel after, if at all. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1)(i)-(iii), as amended

Traveling with something pending. A student with an I-539 extension pending who left and re-entered on an I-20 whose program end date ran beyond the previously authorized period could have the I-539 treated as abandoned. A pending change of status would be abandoned on departure, now written into the regulation. 8 CFR 214.1(c)(8)(ii), 248.1(f), as amended

For advisors. Under the rule, "When did you last enter the U.S.?" would become the first sorting question for every F-1 case, because travel history, not the I-20 or SEVIS record, would tell you which regime a student was in. Today every returning student is in D/S. 8 CFR 214.1(m)(1), as amended

As published, the rule counts its transition dates from its original September 15, 2026 effective date. If the postponement ends, check how DHS applies those dates at that time; this page will say.