New Department of Homeland Security regulations change how long international students can stay and expand “public charge” reviews for permanent residency applicants
The U.S. government published two new rules on July 16, 2026, that significantly change legal immigration, with direct consequences for international students and permanent residency applicants. The changes come from the Department of Homeland Security, known as DHS, and apply to new applications filed starting September 18, sixty days after the official publication date. For anyone considering studying, working or moving to the United States, understanding exactly what changes, and what does not, helps avoid decisions based on incomplete information circulating on social media.
The end of a system that had been in place since 1978
The first of the two rules ends a permanence system for international students that had been in place for nearly five decades. According to a report from Soul Brasil Magazine, the previous model allowed student visa holders to stay in the country for the entire length of their academic program, without a fixed expiration date tied to the visa itself, a setup known as “duration of status.” Going forward, that changes, and DHS moves to a system built around shorter, fixed periods and recurring extension requests that require periodic renewal with immigration authorities.
One of the most concrete effects of this shift falls on students enrolled in English-language programs under F-1 visas, a category widely used by international students who travel to the United States to improve their language skills before starting undergraduate or graduate programs. According to the same report, the maximum stay allowed in these programs is now capped at 24 months, counting the entire period of study, which forces anyone planning to stay longer to consider, from now on, a transition to a different visa category within that window.
What changes in “public charge” reviews for green cards
The second rule published by DHS reworks the criteria used to evaluate what is known as “public charge,” a concept in U.S. immigration law used to decide whether a green card applicant is likely to depend on government assistance in the future. According to a report from Brasil247, the new interpretation expands the discretion given to immigration officers reviewing these applications, a shift that worries immigrant rights groups cited in the same report.
The most delicate part of this change, according to Soul Brasil Magazine, is that the evaluation may now weigh the expectation of future use of public benefits, not just an applicant’s actual history of using government assistance. In other words, someone who has never relied on any kind of aid in the United States could still, in theory, be flagged as a public charge risk based on a projection about their future behavior. Immigration lawyers and advocacy groups cited across these reports argue that the lack of objective, measurable criteria for that projection could increase legal uncertainty for people relying on work visas, family reunification or sponsorship from relatives already living in the country.
Who is affected and when the rules take effect
Both regulations have a broad reach that goes well beyond the usual enforcement against unauthorized entry. According to Brasil247, American universities, exchange programs, foreign newsrooms with correspondents in the United States, and permanent residency applicants will all need to adjust their procedures to this new system, marked by shorter deadlines, recurring extension requests and greater discretion for immigration officers reviewing each case.
The new rules apply to admission or status adjustment applications filed starting September 18, 2026. That means processes already underway before that date are expected to follow the previous rules, though anyone with a pending case should confirm their specific situation directly with a licensed U.S. immigration attorney, since transition details tend to vary depending on the exact type of visa or petition involved.
How this fits into the broader 2026 immigration picture
These two rules did not appear in isolation. They are part of a wider set of changes to U.S. immigration policy throughout 2026, which included, for example, a Supreme Court decision on June 23 in Blanche v. Lau that narrowed legal protections for permanent residents returning from trips abroad under certain circumstances, according to a report from Nossa Gente, an outlet focused on the Brazilian community in Florida. Back in May, DHS had also backed away from a proposal that would have required temporary visa holders to return to their home countries to apply for a green card, deciding instead to review those cases on a “case by case” basis, according to reporting from the newspaper O Tempo.
One detail brings some relief for Brazilian applicants specifically, amid this otherwise tighter landscape: the July 2026 Visa Bulletin keeps Brazil out of the most backlogged green card categories, unlike applicants from India, China and the Philippines, who face setbacks and even suspensions in employment-based categories, according to an analysis published by the immigration law firm Bicalho. That does not mean Brazilian applicants are shielded from the new permanence and public charge rules, but it does suggest that, in terms of queue length and wait times, Brazil still holds a relatively more favorable position within the American immigration system.
With so many changes unfolding at once, the safest approach for anyone with a pending visa or green card case, or planning to start one in the coming months, is to follow official DHS and USCIS publications and seek specialized legal advice before making decisions, rather than relying on informal summaries. The rules published in July still have two months to go before taking effect, a window that can be used for planning, though further adjustments or clarifications from the American government in the meantime are not out of the question.
Sources consulted: Brasil247, Soul Brasil Magazine, Nossa Gente, O Tempo
