🚨 The New F-1 Rule Has Been Temporarily Paused — But It Has NOT Been Permanently Eliminated

At 4:55 PM on September 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV of the District of Massachusetts issued a Preliminary Injunction Order.

See Figures 1 and 2 for the court’s original language.

The court has temporarily paused the effective date of the new F-1 rule and prohibited DHS and ICE from continuing to implement the Final Rule.

⚠️ Important: This does NOT mean the new F-1 rule has been permanently eliminated.

For now, things will continue to operate under the previous F-1 rules.

The court order is very clear.

As stated in Sections 2, 3, and 4 of Figure 1, the court granted the plaintiffs’ request and POSTPONED the effective date of the Final Rule, meaning that its implementation has been temporarily suspended.

At the same time, DHS, ICE, and the other defendants are prohibited from taking further actions to implement the Final Rule.

So, the new F-1 rule that was originally scheduled to take effect on September 15 will not take effect as originally planned.

However, there is another important point:

This does NOT mean that the rule has been permanently struck down.

Section 5 of the court order makes this very clear. The plaintiffs also asked the court to vacate the Final Rule, grant summary judgment, and provide other further relief.

Those requests were denied without prejudice.

In other words, the court is not granting those requests at this stage, but the plaintiffs may still pursue them later.

📌 So what is the accurate way to understand the situation right now?

The court has essentially pressed the “pause button” on the new F-1 rule.

It has NOT permanently deleted or invalidated the rule.

For now, we continue to follow the previous F-1 rules.

That means some of the changes everyone was most worried about — for example:

👉 Whether students can still transfer schools after completing a master’s degree

👉 Whether students can still complete a SEVIS transfer

👉 Whether Day 1 CPT would suddenly become unavailable because of the September 15 rule

— will NOT suddenly be cut off on September 15 simply because of this Final Rule.

Of course, whether you can transfer schools or participate in CPT still depends on your individual circumstances, including:

• Your SEVIS status

• Your I-20

• Whether you have continuously maintained valid F-1 status

• Whether your school and program are compliant with applicable requirements

  
  

⚠️ The injunction pauses the new rule itself. It does not automatically resolve every individual student’s immigration situation.

📌 In short: The September 15 F-1 rule has been temporarily blocked, not permanently eliminated. For now, continue following the previous F-1 rules.

有需要也可以下方找到我们~

电子邮件： info@newlandlawfirm.com

电话： (212)257-1932

微信号：zengqilaw