New rule caps student and exchange visas to four years, while most journalist visas will be limited to 240 days.

A coalition of unions and advocacy groups in the United States has sued the federal government, seeking to block a rule that would limit how long foreign students and journalists can remain in the country without applying for extensions.

In the lawsuit, filed in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts on Tuesday, the groups said the changes would be “catastrophic” for universities, international students and scholars.

The Department of Homeland Security’s new rule creates a fixed time period for the F visas for international students, the J visas that allow visitors on cultural exchange programmes to work in the US, and I visas for members of the media.

Those visas are currently available for the duration of the programme or employment in the US.

Under the new regulations, set to take effect on September 15, the student and exchange visa periods would be no longer than four years. The visa for journalists, which can currently last years, would be up to 240 days or, in the case of Chinese nationals, 90 days.

“They will discourage foreign students and other nonimmigrants from coming to the United States, repelled by the intolerable prospect of losing lawful immigration status partway through their studies,” the groups said in the lawsuit.

“Students will lose opportunities, schools will lose talent, and the public will lose billions of dollars of economic contributions supported by one of the United States’ top exports: education.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson called the lawsuit “performative”.

“If the media really cared about legitimate international students, they would be thanking President [Donald] Trump for cracking down on the rampant fraud to ensure only those truly intending to study in the United States are given the privilege,” the spokesperson said, without providing evidence for the alleged fraud.

US NewsGuild-CWA President Jon Schleuss described the new rule as an attack on journalists.

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, a national teachers’ union, said that the US is “breaking the law for its own political purposes and, in doing so, is hurting Americans and American enterprise”, using international students as “pawns”.

“This latest assault on knowledge by the Trump administration arbitrarily limits how long international scholars have to complete their studies and risks turning a welcoming environment for students into a hostile one,” Weingarten said.