Indians hard hit as US student visas decline by a fifth from last year | Education News

Indian nationals see decrease of 45 percent compared to same period last year as US clamps down on foreign students.

The number of student visas issued by the United States has dropped by about one-fifth compared to the same one-month period last year, with India seeing a dramatic decline amid restrictive policies pursued by United States President Donald Trump.

Data from the International Trade Commission found that the US issued about 313,138 student visas in August, when studies typically begin at US universities, a 19.1 percent drop compared to August 2024.

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For Indian students, the largest source of foreign students studying in the US, the drop was 44.5 percent during that period. Visa issuances also dropped for students from China, albeit at a lower rate.

Several Muslim-majority countries also saw massive declines, with student visas for Iranians dropping by 86 percent. The figures do not represent overall numbers of foreign students attending US universities, many of whom remain on previously issued visas.

The drop comes as the Trump administration has pursued a restrictive approach to immigration, while using funding to exert growing political pressure on US universities.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked thousands of student visas, citing violations of US law, participation in protests, or in some cases, criticism of Israel. The targeting has been in parallel with pro-Israel groups that monitor and surveil university students involved in pro-Palestine activism.

In June, Rubio also ordered the temporary suspension of all student visa processing in order to enact greater oversight over student social media profiles.

Those vetting applications were told to look for “any indications of hostility toward the citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles of the United States”.

However, the administration’s messaging towards certain countries has not always been consistent.

After initially vowing to restrict a large portion of Chinese students seeking to study in the US, Trump told reporters in August that he planned to admit 600,000 Chinese students into the country to study.

The figure was double the number of Chinese students currently studying in the US.

“We’re going to allow, it’s very important, 600,000 students. It’s very important,” Trump said at the time.