DHS published a proposed rule on October 8 that would charge SEVP-certified schools a one-time $70,000 fee the first time they recommend an F-1 student for Optional Practical Training, and $30,000 for any later OPT recommendation for the same student. The fee would be paid by the school, not the student or the employer, and a DSO could not enter the recommendation in SEVIS until it was paid; USCIS could not grant work authorization if it was not. This is a proposal, not law. Comments are due November 9, 2026, and the rule would take effect only 60 days after a final version is published. Nothing about OPT has changed today.
The government is appealing the September 14 order that stopped the duration-of-status rule from taking effect. Court records show DHS filed its notice of appeal on September 30, asked the First Circuit on October 7 to speed up the appeal (No. 26-2112), and on October 9 asked the district judge in Boston to put the rest of the case on hold until the appeal is decided. None of that changes anything today: the postponement stays in force, F-1 and J-1 students remain admitted for duration of status, and the 60-day grace period and 60-day OPT filing window still apply. On the government's own proposed schedule, the appeals court would not hear argument for roughly two months.
A three-judge panel of the First Circuit heard argument on October 6 in the government's appeal of the 2025 injunction that blocked its attempt to bar Harvard's international students. Two weeks earlier the court had told both sides to be ready to address whether the appeal is moot, since the presidential proclamation at the center of the case expired on December 4, 2025 and no one has said it was extended. No decision has been issued, and nothing on the docket shows a new restriction on Harvard's students. The case concerns one school; it does not change SEVP rules for others.
In a short broadcast message dated October 7, SEVP told SEVIS users to keep text only when pasting into open text fields, because formatting carried over from other programs can cause errors. It is a troubleshooting notice for DSOs and other SEVIS users, not a rule, and it changes no requirement.
The Association of American Universities and other higher-education groups have sued DHS in federal court in Boston over SEVP's August broadcast messages on Curricular Practical Training. On October 5 they asked the court for a preliminary injunction and a stay of the guidance, arguing that its reading of the CPT regulation is stricter than the rule itself; their filing says many schools have stopped authorizing CPT for for-credit elective internships. The government's response is due October 19, and the case is assigned to Judge Julia E. Kobick. No court has ruled. CPT is not suspended, the regulation is unchanged, and the broadcasts remain SEVP's stated position.
Proclamation 11069, signed September 18 and published September 23, extends for twelve months the 2025 restriction on the entry of H-1B workers whose petitions are not accompanied by a $100,000 payment. It took effect September 21, 2026 and runs to September 21, 2027 unless extended again. The text is written around workers who are outside the United States and must seek admission; it does not mention F-1 students, OPT, or changes of status filed inside the country, and it does not change any student rule. How USCIS applies the payment to an OPT-to-H-1B change of status is a question for USCIS guidance and the employer's counsel.
After the September 14 court order, USCIS posted an alert on its Form I-765 and Form I-539 pages saying the duration-of-status rule's effective date is postponed and that it is proceeding under the previous regulations. In practice that means the 08/21/25 edition of Form I-765 and the 08/28/24 edition of Form I-539 remain the ones to file, and the 09/15/26 editions built for the postponed rule are not accepted. The earlier notice that old editions would be rejected from September 15 is inoperative while the postponement stands. USCIS also said it disagrees with the order and will implement the rule if the order is lifted. The pre-rule filing windows apply: OPT applications up to 90 days before and 60 days after the program end date, and a 60-day grace period after completion.
On September 14, Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the U.S. District Court in Boston postponed the effective date of the DHS rule that would have replaced duration of status with fixed admission periods for F, J and I nonimmigrants. The order, issued under the Administrative Procedure Act in a suit brought by the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, NAFSA and several unions, applies nationwide and bars DHS and ICE from implementing the rule while the case continues. The rule therefore never took effect on September 15. Duration of status, the 60-day grace period and the 60-day OPT filing window remain the law unless and until the postponement is lifted.
A proposed rule published September 11 would remove the up-to-60-day grace period that lets E, H-1B, L-1, O-1 and TN workers stay briefly after their employment ends. It would amend 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2), the employment-based provision, and does not touch 8 CFR 214.2(f)(5), the F-1 departure period. For students the practical point is the one it does not make: a student's post-completion grace period is unchanged. Former students now in H-1B status would be affected if the rule is finalized. Comments are due November 10, 2026; nothing changes until a final rule is published.
In a late-summer alert USCIS said it would publish new editions of Form I-539 and Form I-765, both dated 09/15/26, to implement the duration-of-status rule, and that older editions would be rejected starting September 15 with no grace period. The rule was then postponed by a court on September 14 (see the item for that date), so which edition USCIS accepts is governed by the notices on its form pages rather than by this alert.
A broadcast message dated August 31 announced SEVIS Release 6.89.1, the system changes built for the duration-of-status rule: a new Admit Until Date shown on student and exchange-visitor pages, renamed extension screens, a new extension-of-stay section on the Form I-20, and warnings when a program end date runs past the admit-until date. A follow-up message on September 11 set the outage at 8 p.m. EDT September 14 to 4 a.m. September 15, with batch processing stopping at 6:30 p.m. Because a court postponed the underlying rule on September 14, an admit-until date does not end a student's status while the postponement stands.
In a second broadcast message on CPT, dated August 24, SEVP set out its reading of the regulation: Curricular Practical Training must be required of all students in the program, an elective course does not make an internship qualify, every placement needs a cooperative agreement between the school and the employer, and students must request authorization before work begins. The message says it is guidance, not a rule, but SEVP has said it will audit and enforce to this reading. Universities have since sued over it (see October 5).
A broadcast message dated August 12 reminded DSOs that they are personally certifying each CPT authorization and announced closer scrutiny, including documentation requests and possible involvement of Homeland Security Investigations, up to withdrawal of a school's certification. It asked schools to review all existing CPT authorizations against their academic requirements, and said CPT should be authorized only where the training is required for all students in the degree and its absence would make the degree impossible to complete. That standard is stricter than the regulation's text; the message itself says it is not a rule.
The State Department published a proposed rule on July 30 that would rewrite the parts of the exchange visitor regulations covering termination, program extensions and reinstatement, last updated in 1999. It would require sponsors to end a participant's program for false statements, let the Department itself terminate a program after a visa is revoked, set a firm three-month deadline for extension paperwork beyond the maximum duration, and replace the current reinstatement categories with a 30-day window to correct a SEVIS record. It applies to J-1 and J-2 exchange visitors, not F-1 students. The comment period closed September 28; the current rules stay in place unless a final rule is issued.
DHS published a final public charge rule on July 20 that replaces the 2022 rule as of September 18, 2026. Under the new rule, receiving, or even applying for, any means-tested public benefit on or after that date may be considered in a public charge decision, including state and local programs; the 2022 rule had counted only cash assistance and long-term institutional care. DHS declined to exempt F and J visa holders, so the rule can matter at a visa interview, at the border on re-entry, and in a later green-card application. It does not apply to maintaining status inside the United States.
On July 17 DHS published the final rule that would replace duration of status for F, J and I nonimmigrants with fixed admission periods: up to four years for students, measured from the program start date, with a 30-day departure period and an extension-of-stay application to USCIS to stay longer. It also would have cut the post-completion OPT filing window to 30 days after the program end date. The rule was scheduled to take effect September 15, 2026. A federal court postponed it on September 14 (see that date), so none of these changes are in effect.