(UNITED STATES) — U.S. immigration officials are moving toward ending Duration of Status for some nonimmigrant visa holders, but the change does not primarily target H-1B workers or H-4 dependents, whose stay in the country already usually depends on a date printed on their Form I-94.

Confusion around the proposal has spread across families that include students, workers and dependents under different visa categories. The distinction turns on a basic question: whether a person is admitted until a fixed date, or allowed to remain as long as that person keeps the underlying immigration status.

Under Duration of Status, a person is admitted not until a calendar deadline but for as long as the conditions of the visa category are met. That system commonly applies to F-1 students and J-1 exchange visitors, whose Form I-94 may show “D/S” instead of a specific expiry date.

Customs and Border Protection explains that the “Admit Until Date” on Form I-94 marks the date a traveller’s immigration status expires, while students and exchange visitors may instead be admitted for D/S, or Duration of Status. A compliant F-1 student can remain in the United States while continuing an approved academic program, maintaining SEVIS status, following school rules and complying with work restrictions.

The proposed rule focuses mainly on F, J and I visa categories. That means academic students and their dependents, exchange visitors and their dependents, and foreign media representatives would face the largest direct change if the rule takes effect.

NAFSA says the Department of Homeland Security proposal would replace Duration of Status admissions with fixed end dates on Form I-94 for F, J and I nonimmigrants. Students and exchange visitors who need more time would then have to apply for formal extensions with USCIS.

As of June 2026, NAFSA says the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs completed review of the final Duration of Status rule on June 17, 2026. The next step is publication in the Federal Register, and the rule would take effect only after publication and the future effective date stated in the final rule.

That structure differs from the one that governs most H-1B cases. H-1B workers are generally admitted for a fixed period tied to an approved H-1B petition and the expiry date on the Form I-94, not under the open-ended D/S model used for many students and exchange visitors.

USCIS says H-1B status is generally valid up to three years and may be extendable for another three years, subject to applicable rules and exceptions. In practice, the Form I-94 “Admit Until Date” carries unusual weight because it controls the person’s authorized stay in the United States.

That point often gets lost in broader immigration discussions that mix together visa validity, status, petition validity and the Form I-94. Those terms overlap in casual conversation, but they do not mean the same thing.

A visa stamp allows travel to a U.S. port of entry. The Form I-94 shows class of admission and authorized stay. Status refers to the legal classification held inside the United States. D/S means a person may stay while maintaining status, usually in F and J categories. Petition validity refers to the approval period for categories such as H-1B.

That is why H-1B workers usually track a date, not a notation. An H-1B worker who enters the United States will generally receive an Form I-94 with a specific “Admit Until Date,” and the worker must make sure any extension also properly extends or updates that record.

H-4 dependents follow the same fixed-date logic. They also are generally admitted until a specific date rather than under Duration of Status, even though their immigration status depends on the principal H-1B worker’s status.

Each H-4 spouse or child still has a separate immigration record and a separate Form I-94. That separate record matters after every entry into the United States, because the dependent’s lawful stay does not rest on the principal worker’s paperwork alone.

Employment authorization adds another layer for some H-4 spouses. USCIS says the employment authorization document end date for certain H-4 dependent spouses should match the expiration date on the most recent Form I-94 showing H-4 nonimmigrant status.

That makes the H-4 expiry date more than an administrative detail. It can determine how long a spouse remains in lawful status and how long work authorization stays valid.

An F-1 student’s situation looks different from the start. A student may enter the country and receive an Form I-94 marked D/S, which means admission is not tied to a fixed calendar date in the same way that many workers’ admissions are.

That student can remain while maintaining F-1 status, subject to program rules, SEVIS compliance, grace periods and employment authorization rules. A worker in H-1B status, by contrast, usually remains only through the date listed on the Form I-94, unless an extension or other update changes that end point.

The result is a split system inside many households. One family may include an F-1 student who faces any future change to Duration of Status, an H-1B spouse whose stay depends on petition approval and Form I-94 dates, and children in H-4 status with their own admission records.

That mix is common in Indian families in the United States, where one person may later move from F-1 to H-1B, a spouse may stay in H-4 status, and children may also hold H-4 status. Different members of the same family can therefore fall under different rules at the same time.

The practical checks for H-1B workers and H-4 dependents remain the same even as attention stays fixed on the Duration of Status rule. After every U.S. entry, they need to review the Form I-94 “Admit Until Date,” compare it with the H-1B approval notice validity period, and confirm the dependent’s separate H-4 expiry date.

Passport validity also matters because Customs and Border Protection may sometimes limit Form I-94 validity based on passport validity. Travel can create a new Form I-94 with a different expiry date, and extension filings need to be made before status expires.

USCIS says Form I-539 is used by certain nonimmigrants to extend or change status, while some employment-based classifications require Form I-129. Those filings sit within a date-based system, not the D/S framework that the proposed rule would replace for F, J and I categories.

That difference explains why the current debate sounds broader than its direct reach. The rule has raised concern among F-1 students, J-1 exchange visitors and foreign media representatives, but H-1B workers and H-4 dependents already usually operate under a structure that assigns a definite end date to their authorized stay.

Even so, overlap between categories keeps the issue in view far beyond campuses and exchange programs. A student planning Optional Practical Training, a worker preparing an H-1B change of status, and a spouse seeking H-4 employment authorization can all encounter the same family calendar while relying on different legal rules.

The policy move now nearing publication would change the student and exchange visitor system from one based on maintaining status to one based on an end date and formal extension requests. H-1B workers and H-4 dependents, by contrast, still live by the date already printed on the record they receive at entry.

As federal review moves to the publication stage, the most important distinction remains a simple one embedded in the Form I-94: students and exchange visitors often see D/S, while H-1B workers and H-4 dependents usually see a specific date, and that date controls how long they can stay.