September 2026 Newsletter
September 14, 2026
2026 NCSBN Annual Meeting
TEC was in Chicago for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Annual Meeting, represented by Mukul Bakhshi, Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, and Christopher Fell, Chief Financial Officer. Great to see so many familiar faces and meet a few new ones.
Also in Chicago: Mukul and Chris visited the Chicago Welcome Back Center at Richard J. Daley College, which supports internationally educated professionals working toward Illinois licensure.
CLEAR 2026 Annual Educational Conference
Mukul Bakhshi, our Chief Legal and Compliance Officer, and Talia Freelund, our Senior Partnerships Liaison, will be at CLEAR’s 46th annual gathering of the international regulatory community. Planning on being there as well? Get in touch and we’ll find time to meet with you.
Conference DetailsDuration of Status goes to court
For decades, students and exchange visitors on F and J visas have been admitted for “duration of status,” meaning they may stay as long as they remain enrolled and in good standing, with no fixed end date stamped on their admission. A DHS final rule published July 17 ends that arrangement, and it is now being challenged in federal court.
On August 18, NAFSA and seven other organizations, including the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, AICUM, the AFT, the UAW, and the NewsGuild-CWA, filed a complaint and a motion for preliminary injunction in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, challenging the DHS final rule that ends the Duration of Status framework.
- What the rule does. Under the new framework, F and J admissions are capped at the program end date listed in SEVIS, with a four-year ceiling. Anyone who needs longer must file for an extension of stay. The rule also limits changing educational objectives, transferring institutions, and adding programs of study.
- The argument. Plaintiffs bring an Administrative Procedure Act challenge, contending that DHS shortchanged the required cost-benefit analysis, brushed past substantive public comments, ignored lighter-touch alternatives, and never connected the rule to the goals it claims to serve. They further argue the comment window was too short and that the agency reached beyond what Congress authorized.
- Why it matters to your office. Left in place, fixed terms mean extension filings mid-program, heavier advising loads, and admitted students asking whether their program length still fits inside their admission period. The injunction motion asks the court to halt the rule before it takes effect on September 15.
- Where it stands. Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV has set an in-person hearing on the injunction motion for September 9, six days before the effective date. No ruling yet. Keep advising current students under existing guidance until a court says otherwise.
Applicants can now track their own case
The new TEC Portal gives each applicant a live view of their own evaluation. They create an account, link their case, and see exactly where it sits at any moment. When a case is on hold, the portal names the reason: balance pending, documents required, or verification needed. From the same screen they can upload what is missing, message our team about that specific case, and download the finished evaluation and any certified translations.
The TEC portal allows for more lines of communication between applicants and the TEC team. Before contacting their foreign university to follow up on the verification process, students can first check their portal for updates. When confirming document requirements, students can upload files. The portal will reduce questions for admissions teams, resulting in a more streamlined process.
Use the email on the case. They can sign up with an email and password or with Google. If the case is under a different address, they can add a secondary email from their profile later and verify it there.
The date of birth has to match. Profile setup asks for a date of birth, and it needs to match what is on the case and on the ID they submitted. That is how the portal finds their record.
Link the case with the full case number. From the dashboard, they go to Case Search, type the complete number, and select Find My Cases. If they have worked with us before, they can link every past case to the same account.
Additional uploads close when the evaluation is completed. After that, anything they need to send goes through the Support section, and our team can reopen the case if it makes sense to.
Kate Freeman
Two weeks after finishing her BA in Spanish, Kate left for Morocco with the Peace Corps and spent the next two years teaching English at a lycée in the northeast of the country. She went on to teach ESL in the United States and in Taiwan before settling into international admissions and credential evaluation, where she spent 25 years at Luther College, Monmouth University, and Drexel University.
“Every day is different. Sometimes the credentials are fairly straightforward, but then you get a credential or institution that requires hours of research.”
She has the deepest credential expertise in the regions she has lived in: Spain, where she studied, and France and Francophone Africa, which she traces back to those years in Morocco. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Germany, is an inductee of TAICEP’s Hall of Acclaim, and has written a number of country profiles for AACRAO EDGE, including the one on Morocco, drawn from the years she spent teaching there.
Kate has served on the boards of TAICEP and the Philadelphia Area Peace Corps Association, chaired NAFSA’s Recruitment, Admission and Placement Knowledge Community, and held several leadership roles in NAFSA Region VIII.
- Workday fuel
- Cold brew
- Favorite place traveled
- Spain
- Cuisine
- Mediterranean
- Teammates would say
- Passionate
- Hidden talent
- College tennis team
- Team
- Cleveland Guardians
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