U.s. Immigration and Customs Enforcement September 25, 2023 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces that the Secretary of Homeland Security (Secretary) is suspending certain regulatory requirements for F-1 nonimmigrant students whose country of citizenship is Afghanistan, regardless of country of birth (or individuals having no nationality who last habitually resided in Afghanistan), and who are experiencing severe economic hardship as a direct result of the current armed conflict and current humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. The Secretary is taking action to provide relief to these Afghan students who are in lawful F-1 nonimmigrant students status, so the students may request employment authorization, work an increased number of hours while school is in session, and reduce their course load while continuing to maintain their F-1 nonimmigrant student status. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will deem an F-1 nonimmigrant student granted employment authorization by means of this notice to be engaged in a ``full course of study'' for the duration of the employment authorization, if the nonimmigrant student satisfies the minimum course load requirement described in this notice.