For over 30 years, the F-1 student visa has worked on a simple principle: as long as you're enrolled and making normal progress toward your degree, you're admitted for "Duration of Status" — no fixed expiration date on your I-94, just an open-ended "D/S" notation tied to your program. That principle is now closer to ending than at any point since it was introduced, and a wave of fee increases, expanded vetting, and tightened deadlines has already arrived ahead of it.
None of this means the F-1 visa has become a bad option — the United States remains home to more top-ranked universities than any other country, and OPT remains one of the most valuable post-study work benefits available anywhere. It does mean a lot of the advice circulating online is already out of date. Here's what's actually true as of mid-2026, and what's genuinely still just proposed.
How the F-1 process actually works
- Get admitted to a SEVP-certified school and receive your Form I-20, which establishes your SEVIS record and the funding you've certified you have access to
- Pay the SEVIS I-901 fee ($350) before your visa application — this activates your SEVIS record so a consular officer can verify it during your interview
- Complete the DS-160 online visa application and pay the MRV (visa application) fee ($185)
- Schedule and attend your visa interview at a U.S. embassy or consulate, bringing your I-20, financial evidence, and academic documents
- Enter the U.S. up to 30 days before your program start date, and report to your school's International Student Office to register
Fees: the full picture, including the one that isn't fully active yet
| Fee | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|
| SEVIS I-901 fee | $350 | Standard, in effect since 2019 |
| DS-160 visa application (MRV) fee | $185 | Standard, non-refundable even if denied |
| Visa Integrity Fee | $250 | Signed into law July 2025; rollout and collection timeline still being finalized as of mid-2026 |
| I-765 (OPT/STEM OPT application) | $1,780 | Increased from $1,685 |
The Visa Integrity Fee deserves its own explanation because it's genuinely new and still in flux. It was created by the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," signed into law on 4 July 2025, and applies to essentially every nonimmigrant visa category, F-1 included. Two details make it different from the other fees: it's only charged when your visa is actually issued (not if you're denied), and it's technically refundable if you comply with all your visa conditions and depart on time — though DHS has not yet published the process for claiming that refund. As of this writing, official guidance on exactly when and how consulates will begin collecting it is still rolling out, with full implementation expected sometime before the end of fiscal year 2026 (30 September 2026). Budget for it, but don't be surprised if the timeline at your specific consulate differs from what you read elsewhere.
The financial requirement: less standardized than you might expect
Unlike the UK or Ireland, the U.S. doesn't set a single nationwide minimum bank balance for the F-1 visa. Instead, your school certifies a specific cost-of-attendance figure on your I-20 — covering tuition, fees, and a standard living cost estimate for your specific program and location — and you need to demonstrate access to funds covering at least that certified amount, typically for your first year, with evidence of an ability to fund subsequent years. This means your actual financial requirement varies enormously by school and city, and the number that matters is the one printed on your own I-20, not a generic figure from a guide like this one.
Social media vetting: a new, mandatory step since 2025
Since 18 June 2025, the State Department has required all F, M, and J visa applicants to set their social media accounts to public as part of a "comprehensive and thorough vetting" of online presence. Consular officers review public posts, comments, and affiliations across major platforms, looking for indicators including hostility toward the U.S. or its institutions, support for designated terrorist organizations, and antisemitic harassment or violence. If your accounts are set to private, embassies generally treat this the same way they'd treat any other withheld information on your application — as a gap that can complicate your case rather than protect it.
This policy has already expanded twice since its June 2025 introduction — to H-1B and H-4 applicants in December 2025, and to over a dozen additional visa categories in March 2026 — which suggests it's a settled, ongoing practice rather than a temporary measure. Practically: review and clean up your public-facing social media well before your interview, keep your story consistent across your application and your online presence, and don't make last-minute privacy changes right before your appointment, which can itself draw scrutiny.
The big one: the proposed end of Duration of Status
This is the single most consequential pending change for F-1 students, so it's worth walking through carefully and honestly — including what's confirmed and what isn't.
What's proposed: DHS published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 28 August 2025 to eliminate Duration of Status for F-1 students (along with J-1 exchange visitors and I-visa media representatives), replacing it with a fixed admission period generally capped at 4 years, tied to your I-20 program end date. Anyone needing more time — a longer program, a PhD that runs past 4 years, a delay — would need to file a formal Extension of Stay application (Form I-539) with USCIS, potentially including biometrics, well before their fixed period expires.
What else is in the package: the post-completion grace period would shrink from 60 days to 30 days; undergraduate students would be barred from transferring schools or changing programs within their first year; graduate students would be barred from changing programs or transferring schools at any point in their degree; and students who already completed one U.S. academic program would be barred from starting another at the same or a lower level.
Where it actually stands as of mid-2026: the public comment period closed on 29 September 2025. The final rule was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget for review on 5 May 2026 — typically the last procedural step before publication in the Federal Register. OMB review can take anywhere from weeks to several months, and DHS retains discretion to modify, narrow, or drop provisions before finalizing. Based on the current timeline, several immigration law firms tracking the rule estimate an earliest plausible effective date in late summer or fall 2026, with a further 30–60 day delay typical between publication and the rule actually taking effect.
What this means practically right now: Duration of Status is still in effect today. Nothing has changed for current F-1 students' admission terms yet. But given how far the rule has progressed, any student planning a program that might run close to or beyond 4 years — many PhDs, some combined degree programs — should treat an eventual Extension of Stay filing as a real possibility worth planning for, not a hypothetical. Stay in close contact with your school's international student office as this develops, since they'll be the first to relay implementation guidance once it's published.
Work rights while studying
| Type | What it allows | Key limits |
|---|---|---|
| On-campus employment | Work for your own institution | Up to 20 hours/week while school is in session; full-time during official breaks |
| Curricular Practical Training (CPT) | Work that's an integral, required part of your curriculum (internships, co-ops) | Must be authorized by your school before starting; can be part-time or full-time depending on curriculum requirements |
| Optional Practical Training (OPT) | Work authorization in your field of study, generally used after completing your program | 12 months standard, applied for via Form I-765 ($1,780) |
| STEM OPT extension | Additional work authorization for STEM-designated degree fields | Extra 24 months, bringing total potential OPT to 3 years for eligible graduates |
A detail that catches some students out: using 12 months or more of full-time CPT before graduation makes you ineligible for OPT afterward, so curricular internships need to be planned with this trade-off in mind rather than taken indefinitely just because they're available.
The grace period: currently 60 days, possibly shrinking to 30
Right now, F-1 students have 60 days after completing their program (or after OPT ends) to either depart the U.S., transfer to a new program, or change to another visa status. The same proposed rule discussed above would cut this to 30 days — a meaningfully tighter window for wrapping up affairs, attending graduation, and either starting OPT employment or leaving the country. If you're planning your post-graduation timeline today, building in the assumption that you might only have 30 days, rather than 60, is the more conservative and currently more future-proof approach.
Bringing family: F-2 dependents
F-1 students can bring a spouse and unmarried children under 21 on F-2 dependent visas. The most important thing to understand here, especially if you're comparing the U.S. against the UK, Australia, or Ireland: F-2 spouses generally cannot work in the United States. F-2 dependents can study part-time (F-2 children can study full-time at the K-12 level), but full-time study and employment authorization for an F-2 spouse are not standard features of the category the way they are, in more limited circumstances, for some other countries' dependent visa rules. This is one of the U.S. system's most significant trade-offs relative to other major study destinations and is worth factoring in early if you're planning to bring a partner.
Common mistakes that put F-1 status at risk
- Falling below a full course load without prior authorization from your school's international student office
- Working beyond authorized hours, including exceeding 20 hours/week on-campus during the semester
- Letting CPT run 12+ months full-time without realizing it eliminates OPT eligibility
- Missing the SEVIS fee payment before a visa interview — there's no same-day fix, and in busy seasons this can push your start date back an entire semester
- Assuming private social media accounts are safer under the current vetting policy — incomplete or inconsistent disclosure is treated as its own red flag
- Not updating your address in SEVIS within the required reporting window after you move
What comes after OPT: the H-1B picture is genuinely unsettled right now
Once OPT (and any STEM extension) ends, most graduates who want to stay in the U.S. for work need an employer to sponsor an H-1B visa, allocated by an annual lottery — currently 65,000 regular-cap slots plus 20,000 reserved for U.S. Master's degree holders or higher — with far more applicants than available slots most years. If you're on OPT and your employer files a timely H-1B petition with an October 1 start date, a "cap-gap" extension keeps your F-1 status and work authorization active through that date, bridging what would otherwise be a gap in legal status.
The complication, and it's a significant one, is the proposed $100,000 H-1B fee — and its legal status has been genuinely volatile over the past year. On 19 September 2025, a presidential proclamation imposed a $100,000 supplemental payment requirement on new H-1B petitions for beneficiaries located outside the U.S., effective two days later. Since then: a Washington D.C. federal court upheld the fee in December 2025; a Massachusetts federal court vacated it nationwide in June 2026, ruling it functioned as an unconstitutional tax the executive branch lacked authority to impose; the administration filed an appeal and requested a stay within days of that ruling; and with conflicting rulings now on the record in different circuits, this is realistically headed toward the Supreme Court. As of this writing, the fee is not in effect, but it could be reinstated quickly if a stay is granted. If your post-graduation plan depends on H-1B sponsorship, treat this as actively unresolved and worth monitoring through your employer's immigration counsel rather than assuming either outcome — for now, the practical takeaway is that OPT should be treated as a genuine job-search and skill-building window, not an automatic bridge to long-term U.S. status, since the step after it is both competitive and, at the policy level, currently in flux.
Frequently asked questions
Is Duration of Status already gone? No. As of mid-2026, D/S remains the current rule. DHS's proposal to replace it with a fixed 4-year admission period has advanced to final White House review but has not been published as a final rule or taken effect. Treat it as highly likely to happen, but not yet in force.
How much does an F-1 visa actually cost in total? At minimum, budget for the $350 SEVIS fee and $185 MRV fee. The $250 Visa Integrity Fee is law and will apply once collection procedures are finalized, likely before the end of fiscal year 2026. None of this includes tuition or the living-cost amount your school certifies on your I-20, which varies significantly by institution.
Do I need to make my social media public? You'll be instructed to set your accounts to public as part of the visa application process for F, M, and J categories, in effect since June 2025. Treat this as a standard, expected part of the process rather than an unusual request specific to your case.
How long can I work after graduating on OPT? 12 months standard, plus an additional 24 months if your degree is in a STEM-designated field — up to 3 years total for eligible graduates. This is currently among the most generous post-study work allowances of any major study destination.
Can my spouse work in the U.S. while I'm on an F-1 visa? Generally, no. F-2 dependent spouses do not have standard work authorization, which is a significant difference from how some other countries (including Canada and, in more limited circumstances, Ireland) treat partners of international students.
Will the post-completion grace period really shrink to 30 days? It's part of the same proposed rule changing Duration of Status, and hasn't taken effect yet. Given how far the rule has progressed toward finalization, it's reasonable to plan your post-graduation timeline as if 30 days — rather than the current 60 — will be your actual window.
Is the $100,000 H-1B fee currently in effect? No, not as of this writing — a federal court in Massachusetts vacated it nationwide in June 2026. However, the administration has appealed and requested a stay, and a separate federal court had previously upheld the same fee, so this is genuinely unresolved. Track it through official channels or your employer's immigration counsel rather than assuming a permanent outcome either way.
🇺🇸 See the full USA study picture
Universities, tuition, and how OPT and H-1B fit into a longer-term plan — the complete guide beyond just the visa mechanics.
🇨🇦 Comparing the US to Canada?
See how F-1/OPT stacks up against Canada's study permit and PGWP before you decide.
This guide reflects F-1 visa rules, fees, and proposed regulatory changes current as of June 2026, including the Visa Integrity Fee created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (signed 4 July 2025), the proposed fixed admission period rule submitted for final White House review on 5 May 2026, and the $100,000 H-1B fee, which was vacated by a federal court in June 2026 and remains under appeal. Duration of Status remains the current legal framework until a final rule is published and takes effect. Immigration rules are set and updated by DHS, ICE/SEVP, and the Department of State — verify current requirements at studyinthestates.dhs.gov and travel.state.gov before applying, or consult a licensed immigration attorney for guidance specific to your situation.