Unlawful Presence For F, M and J Students
Author: New York Immigration Lawyer Alena Shautsova
Major changes are coming to the Immigration filed and how the laws are implemented. For almost two decades, students admitted on F, J, and M programs were admitted for Duration of Status (D/S) and were not acquiring unlawful presence if they overstayed their visas unless an Immigration Judge or a DHS made a determination that their status was terminated.
Previously, for example, a J1 student who came on a Work and Travel program and overstayed her visa, would not face the 3/10 year unlawful presence bars if she later left the US and applied for, let’s say an Immigrant visa. The amount of time that was overstayed would not matter. Now, however, DHS made it clear, that even those admitted for Duration of Status will be accumulating the unlawful presence time after their authorized stay expires (stay including the authorized periods that are grunted to students after the expiration of their programs which is 60 days for F students and 30 days for J students).
It means that those who overstay their student visas, dispte the D/S admission will face 3/10 unlawful presence bars and will have to take this into consideration when making decisions about applying for reinstatement, changing status or returning back home. A person who is subject to an unlawful presence bar must receive a waiver to come back to the US before the ban expires.
The new calculation of unlawful presence will come into effect on August 9, 2018. Prior to this date, the old rule is in effect.