The Trump administration finalized a major rule to tighten student visas by ending the “duration of status” policy and imposing a fixed four-year maximum admission cap. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2026/07/16/trump-administration-issues-final-rule-end-foreign-student-visa-abuse Why? Foreign students benefit the U.S. in a number of ways and we should seek to increase their number.
First: hosting foreign students is an export, it pays foreign money into the U.S. via tuition, room and board and other purchases these students make in the U.S.. The inflow of foreign exchange helps provide us with the means for paying for what we import from abroad. https://wcoats.blog/2025/11/04/trade/
Second: Foreign student gain firsthand experience of life in the U.S., often making lifelong friends. They take this knowledge home improving American relations with other countries. American student benefit from meeting and befriending the foreign students, thus broadening their knowledge of other cultures.
Third: When foreign students decide to remain in the U.S. we benefit from their knowledge and expertise increasing American income and wealth.
According to annual economic impact data calculated by NAFSA: Association of International Educators, foreign students spent and contributed $43.8 billion and supported approximately 378,000 jobs in the U.S. in the 2023–2024 Academic Year. This fell 2% during the next year, which was the first year of the current Trump administration.
We would do much better to deport Stephen Miller.
Author: Warren Coats
I specialize in advising central banks on monetary policy and the development of the capacity to formulate and implement monetary policy. I joined the International Monetary Fund in 1975 from which I retired in 2003 as Assistant Director of the Monetary and Financial Systems Department. While at the IMF I led or participated in missions to the central banks of over twenty countries (including Afghanistan, Bosnia, Croatia, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kosovo, Kyrgystan, Moldova, Serbia, Turkey, West Bank and Gaza Strip, and Zimbabwe) and was seconded as a visiting economist to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (1979-80), and to the World Bank's World Development Report team in 1989. After retirement from the IMF I was a member of the Board of the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority from 2003-10 and of the editorial board of the Cayman Financial Review from 2010-2017. Prior to joining the IMF I was Assistant Prof of Economics at UVa from 1970-75. I am currently a fellow of Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise. In March 2019 Central Banking Journal awarded me for my “Outstanding Contribution for Capacity Building.” My recent books are One Currency for Bosnia: Creating the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina; My Travels in the Former Soviet Union; My Travels to Afghanistan; My Travels to Jerusalem; and My Travels to Baghdad. I have a BA in Economics from the UC Berkeley and a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago. My dissertation committee was chaired by Milton Friedman and included Robert J. Gordon. I live in National Landing Va 22202
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