October 1, 2026: Immigration News for International Students in the US
Whoa...it's October!
You know what that means...changing leaves for fall! (or autumn if you're fancy)
Technically...fall started back on Sept. 22. But it just doesn't realllly sink in until we hit October.
There are plenty of places in the U.S. to see the beautiful foliage (another fancy word) - check out the fall foliage map.
Some places are already in peak color season!
Don't miss what some call the best time of the year...and don't miss getting caught up on this week's headlines:
📰 Top Headlines:
Cal State may drop the TOEFL requirement for international student applicants
The State Department lost a third of its visa officers in a single year
$70 million approved by Congress for international education initiatives was taken back...some saying illegally
🔍 Interesting Find: Chipotle opened in Mexico...crazy idea or genius?
🌍 Immigration Corner Deep Dive: Japan is opening its doors to foreign workers...which is pretty unheard of...while the U.S. is tightening up. What gives?
🍂 🍂 🍂,
Carrie at International Student Voice ⭐info@istudentvoice.com
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Immigration News for International Students in the US
📰 TOP 3 HEADLINES FROM THE WEEK: Immigration news for international students in the US
📝 Cal State may drop the TOEFL requirement (CSU Board of Trustees | New York Post)
Right now, applicants whose schooling wasn't in English have to hit a minimum TOEFL score of 500 to get into any of Cal State's 23 campuses — Vice Chancellor Dilcie Perez proposed replacing that with "multiple approved measures," and the trustees could vote on it in November.
The reasoning is that locking one specific test and one specific score into state regulation ages badly as tests and scoring change, and that the current setup creates barriers around cost and availability...so Cal State could end up doing what the UC system already does, accepting the Duolingo English Test, the SAT, or AP and IB scores instead.
To be clear about what this isn't: Perez said directly that the amendment "would neither eliminate nor lower the English language proficiency requirement," and applicants would still have to show they can handle university-level coursework in English. Different proof, same bar.
📉 The U.S. State Department lost a third of its visa officers in a single year (U.S. Government Accountability Office)
A new report found the number of consular officers working on nonimmigrant visas dropped from 1,342 in fiscal year 2024 to 904 in fiscal year 2025 — a decline attributed to hiring freezes and attrition — while applications climbed to 11.7 million, above pre-pandemic levels.
Fewer people, more applications, predictable result: the average wait for a visitor visa interview went from 26 days in FY2019 to 201 days in FY2025, and in India the average hit 346 days, where 68 officers were handling more than 1.4 million applications. Woof.
Buried in the findings is the part that stings: The State Department has an exercise designed to be run annually to match staffing to workload, but it isn't required by policy. The department skipped it in FY2024 and FY2025 because of what officials described as changing policy priorities.
💰 $70 million for international education was pulled back using a move some say is illegal (Higher Ed Dive)
Quick explainer first: Congress approves federal spending, and a president who wants to cancel some of it normally has to ask Congress to sign off, which takes 45 days. A "pocket rescission", however, is when that request gets filed so close to the end of the fiscal year that Congress runs out of time to respond — and the money functionally disappears without anyone voting on it.
On Friday, the administration moved to revoke $810 million in already-appropriated funding, $70 million of it from international education, days before the fiscal year ended. The White House described it as "woke international education" grants supporting programs that bring foreign students and faculty to U.S. institutions to study or teach language, conduct research, and develop curriculum.
The White House released few specifics about which programs are affected — a conservative think tank identified the Education Department's International Education and Foreign Language initiative as the target.
Here's the contested part: the GAO and the Congressional Research Service have both cast doubt on whether pocket rescissions are even legal, with the GAO reasserting that position this week...and the pushback isn't only from Democrats, with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine calling it "a usurpation of Congress's appropriations powers."
🔍 INTERESTING FIND
🌯 Chipotle opened in Mexico...and the lines are out the door (Texas Monthly)
Chipotle in...Mexico? What next....Olive Garden in Italy? Turns out, those size-of-a-baby burritos were welcomed with open arms. Two months after the first location opened in an affluent Monterrey suburb, Texas Monthly's taco editor found people still lining up in the rain, glaring at anyone who walked in without joining the queue. The editor figured out why it's working: northern Mexico eats flour tortillas, made fresh, served at the nicest steakhouses, so what looks inauthentic from a distance is actually pretty close to home cooking in Monterrey. Uh... I learned something new. But I think Italians would definitely hardcore eye-roll at the unlimited pasta, salad, and breadsticks.
News in 1 Sentence
Business Insider talked to more than 20 people who pursued the H-1B route about what it cost them, including an Amazon program manager who can't commit to buying a house until he knows the result of his fiancée's final lottery attempt.
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the White House that he's inviting 100,000 American students to study in China over the next five years, alongside a gift of two giant pandas headed to Zoo Atlanta.
The U.S. has overtaken the UK as the world's leading source of educational soft power, with 66 serving world leaders educated in America compared to 60 in the UK — and Harvard topping the institutional rankings, ahead of Oxford.
Nearly three-quarters of U.S. college leaders say international student declines have cut their revenue, according to a survey of 300 senior leaders by the American Council on Education, with 9% reporting programs that closed or merged and 11% reporting less financial aid.
Australia will stop most future international students from bringing partners or children as part of a push to cut net migration, with limited exceptions for PhD candidates and students from some Pacific and Southeast Asian countries.
International students at Wellesley College arrived three weeks into the fall semester because of visa delays, with one student telling the campus paper that the constant stream of policy changes is affecting their mental health and academics.
DEEP DIVE: IMMIGRATION CORNER 🛂
Japan and the U.S.: Two examples of how immigration rules change
An article caught my attention last week...that Japan just hit a number no country has ever hit: more than 100,000 people aged 100 or older.
The official count is 107,677, up nearly 8,000 from last year, and almost 88% of them are women.
This has created a problem - there are not enough elder care workers. In fact, Japan's population is estimated to fall from 128 million to 87 million by the year 2070.
So, the Japanese government is doing something that's kind a big deal....they increased its skilled-worker visa program from about 66,000 to more than 160,000.
Why is this a big deal?
Japan is known for being pretty immigrant-avoidant. But with the drop in population and the care needed for the aging population, they were left with no other option.
So, at this point you're probably wondering why am I talking about Japan?
Maybe because I'm wondering how all these women live to be over 100? Well...yes, but for you, this is another example of how immigration policies can change for various reasons...be welcoming at one point...and then restrictive the next.
Let's take a closer look back here in the United States. The story usually told here is that the U.S. has always welcomed immigrants. But when you take a closer look...what's happening right now isn't the first time the country has flip-flopped.
The Chinese Exclusion Act passed in 1882. The Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886. Four years apart, both true at once.
In 1924, Congress imposed national-origin quotas.
In 1942, the U.S. invited Mexican workers in through the Bracero program, then ended it in 1964 — though the jobs didn't end.
In 1965, Congress threw out the quota system entirely.
In 1990, it created the H-1B visa. After 9/11, immigration was folded into a new security agency, and ICE and CBP were created.
Every one of those replaced or reversed something before it. None of them was permanent.
Which brings us to right now....
A proposed $103,265 fee on H-1B petitions. An OPT fee rule that just cleared the White House, with the amount still unknown. Duration of status replaced with a four-year cap — then blocked by a federal judge one day before it took effect. A narrower reading of CPT delivered by memo.
To drive the point home even more...the F-1 status was created by an act of Congress in 1952, and students were originally admitted one year at a time.
Duration of status came from a regulation in 1978. OPT exists because of a regulation, not a law.
None of this is bedrock. It was all decided by someone, at some point, for reasons that made sense to them then.
The point I'm trying to make? What's legal one year may not be the next. It's tough when it feels like the rules are moving against you, but..as history shows...they can always move back.
Sources: (CNN | The Irish Times | Brookings | Fortune)
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Disclaimer: International Student Voice is not an immigration attorney or immigration advisor. The purpose of this newsletter is strictly educational. Always consult with qualified legal counsel for advice specific to your situation.
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