CPJ condemns Trump administration rule restricting international correspondents access to the United States

Share this: Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email Washington, D.C., July 16, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns the Trump administration’s decision to impose new visa restrictions on international correspondents, abandoning a decades-old policy enabling foreign journalists to report from the United States without fear that their visa status could be weaponized against them. “Under these restrictions, the Trump administration has moved to—yet again—deny access based on its individual policing of a journalist’s reporting,” said Jose Zamora, CPJ’s regional director for the Americas. “This is the latest escalation CPJ has documented following a pattern of deeply concerning press freedom violations from this administration. It is the behavior of a backsliding democracy, not the international vanguard of free speech.” A public inspection version of the final rule was made available on July 16. The final rule is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on July 17, and will go into effect 60 days after the final rule is published. These changes will impact thousands of foreign journalists and their families who are in the United States through the nonimmigrant “I visa” for foreign media representatives. According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), there were 37, 330 admissions in the I visa category in fiscal year 2024. The changes would limit foreign reporters’ entry into the U.S. to up to 240 days, or 90 days for Chinese nationals, with new additional restrictions for the initial application review as well as renewal applications. This new rule replaces the open-ended “duration of status” framework that has governed the I visa since 1985. DHS proposed these changes in 2025 as part of a broader rule eliminating the “duration of status” framework for foreign students (F visa), exchange visitors (J visa), and foreign media representatives (I visa). CPJ along with partner organizations submitted a public comment urging the Trump administration to drop the proposed changes. CPJ urges Congress to ensure that I visa issuance decisions will not take the content of a journalist’s reporting into account and calls on the Trump administration to immediately rescind this anti-press policy. Share this: Share on Bluesky (Opens in new window) Bluesky Share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook Share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn Share on X (Opens in new window) X Share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window) WhatsApp Email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email