Source: Immigration Impact
On February 6, 2020, a federal district court stopped USCIS from changing the definition of “unlawful presence” for students and exchange visitors in the United States.
While students and exchange visitors are in school or training, they are often given “duration of status.” After an agency official determines that an individual is out of status, he or she is considered “unlawfully present” in the United States. Under this policy, an individual would know when their “duration of status” expired because USCIS would formally document a status violation.
In August 2018, USCIS changed the policy. Students and exchange visitors would become “unlawfully present” the day after they engage in “unauthorized activity.” [“A student could be hit with unauthorized activity by not realizing they had worked two more hours than they 20 hours they were authorized to work while school was in session.”] The federal district court canceled this policy memorandum from August and permanently prohibited USCIS from applying it.