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Ahead of the start of the Fall semester at American universities, the number of Indian student arrivals in the United States in August fell to the lowest since the Covid pandemic (2020), registering an over 44 per cent decrease as compared to the corresponding period last year.
According to data maintained by the International Trade Administration — a US government agency under the Department of Commerce which records international visitor arrivals – 41,540 Indians arrived in the US on student visas (F and M categories) in August this year. This is the lowest since 2020, when travel restrictions were in place due to the pandemic.
In 2021, there were over 56,000 Indians who arrived on student visas in the US, which increased to 80,486 in 2022, and 93,833 in 2023. The number dipped in August 2024 to 74,825 (see chart).
Pre-pandemic, Indian student arrivals in the US were higher in the last two years of the second Obama administration as compared to this August — 49,797 in August 2015, and 44,722 in August 2016. It dropped to 41,192 in August 2017, the first year of Donald Trump’s first term as President, and remained close to 41,000 in 2018 and 2019.
As data for previous years show, with the Fall semester beginning in August/ September, arrivals on student visas typically peak in August.
This year, June and July, too, recorded a drop of over 40 per cent each in Indian student arrivals as compared to the corresponding periods last year, with the figure for both months being the lowest since 2022. In July, Indian student arrivals dropped to 13,027, from 24,298 in the corresponding month last year; in June, the number fell to 8,545, from 14,418 last year.
The total number of Indian student arrivals for June, July and August was 63,112 this year, the lowest for these months since the pandemic.
In comparison, 86,647 Chinese (excluding Hong Kong) students arrived in the US in August, more than double the Indian figure. While China, too, saw a drop as compared to August last year (98,867), the difference was not so sharp.
The total Chinese student arrivals from June to August was 1.11 lakh; it was 1.32 lakh last year, 1.27 lakh in 2023, and 67,324 in 2022. The pre-Covid figures were much higher, touching 2.30 lakh in 2019.
In the 2023–24 academic year, Indians overtook Chinese students to become the largest international student cohort in the US, according to Open Doors 2024 data.
The total number of international student arrivals in the US this August was 3.13 lakh, down 19 per cent from around 3.87 lakh in August last year. This is the lowest in a decade, barring the Covid years of 2020 and 2021.
From 2015 to 2019, international student arrivals in August stood at over 4 lakh each year; the highest was 4.55 lakh in 2015. This fell to 52,821 in 2020, before rising again to 3.08 lakh in 2021, 3.28 lakh in 2022, and 3.94 lakh in 2023. The data does not include arrivals from Canada and Mexico by land.
Based on data from the US State Department, The Indian Express reported in July that the number of F-1 visas issued to Indian students from March to May (9,906) fell to the lowest for these months since the pandemic, recording a 27 per cent drop as compared to the corresponding period last year. The months from March to July typically mark a busy visa season for students preparing to begin their studies in the Fall semester.
The data on visitor arrivals to the US, categorised by their country of residence and type of visa, is managed by the National Travel and Tourism Office, a unit of the International Trade Administration. It is based on records maintained at the time of arrival by the US Customs and Border Protection. For student arrivals, F and M category visas are counted — students pursuing academic or vocational courses, and their spouse/ child.
The drop in numbers comes in the wake of the Trump administration’s crackdown on international students. The administration has revoked visas of students linked to pro-Palestine protests, and those who have been involved with law enforcement-related proceedings. For a few weeks in May-June, it had also halted the scheduling of interviews for student visa applications to implement stricter vetting of applicants’ social media activity. This was followed by the US embassies asking student visa applicants to make their social media accounts public.
The drop in international student arrivals also comes amid federal funding cuts that several universities are grappling with. The universities have filed lawsuits against the funding freeze.
In fact, denial of student visa applications surged even before the Trump administration came to power earlier this year – 41 per cent of F-1 student visa applications were rejected from October 2023 to September 2024, the highest in a decade.
