New Delhi: The number of US visas issued to Indian students has seen a significant drop this year. From January to September, only 64,008 visas were granted, compared to 103,495 during the same period in 2023.

Official data shows that 65,235 F-1 visas were issued to Indian students in 2021 during this time frame, which surged to 93,181 in 2022. After three consecutive years of growth culminating in a peak last year, the numbers have plunged dramatically this year.

Meanwhile, the pandemic-hit year of 2020 saw only 6,646 F-1 visas issued to Indian students in the first nine months. F-1 visas, part of the non-immigrant category, are typically granted to those pursuing higher education in the US.

While a decline in student visa issuance has been observed, including for Chinese students, the reduction for India is notably steeper. According to the Bureau of Consular Affairs, 73,781 F-1 visas were issued to Chinese students in the first nine months of 2023, down from 80,603 during the same period in 2022.

Trump to bring stricter norms?
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, and several other higher education institutions in the United States had recently advised their international students and employees to return from winter break before January 20, the day Donald Trump swears in as the 47th President of the United States. The advisory comes in the wake of the talk about mass deportation of illegal immigrants in the US by the in-coming administration.

A recent Open Doors 2024 Report on International Educational Exchange said that there are 1.1 million international students in the US. India accounts for the largest number of them with 330,000. The Higher Ed Immigration Portal estimates that more than 400,000 undocumented students are at present enrolled in US higher education.

Those with a valid F-Visa, which is the case with over 330,000 international students from India, are unlikely to be impacted by any visa ban by the incoming Trump Administration.

The undocumented students are unlikely to travel overseas. However, given their experience of 2017, when the first Trump Administration on January 27 issued an executive order barring immigrants and non-immigrant travellers from seven majority Muslim nations from entering the US for 90 days.