Records of the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), United States of America (USA) show that there were a whopping 15.8 international students with active F-1 and M-1 visas in the country in 2024 alone. This is a 5.3 per cent increase from the previous calendar year, The Times of India reports.
The report, released by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), stated that among the 229 countries from which the students hailed from, and more, students from India contributed significantly to this uptick.
Nearly 11 lakh international students in the USA were from Asia, making the continent account for nearly 72 per cent of the overall international student population and the largest source of international students.
Among these students, about 4.2 lakh students were from India, whose number increased by 11.8 per cent from 2023. In the meanwhile, China, which is another major source of international students to the USA, saw a decrease of 0.25 per cent, as per The Times of India.
India and China continued to be the top sources for international students in the USA last year, constituting 27 per cent and 20 per cent of the international student population respectively in the country.
The SEVIS data also showed that over 90 per cent of the total number of international students were in higher educational programmes, with California and New York enrolling most of them at 2.37 lakh students and 1.72 lakh students, respectively.
However, while there was an increase last year, current trends are not looking so optimistic. Experts have reported a 11.3 per cent decline in the number of active students, from 11.53 lakh active students in 2024 to 10.22 lakh active international students in 2025, with the lesser number of Indian and Chinese student enrollments in particular, The Times of India reports.
Spectators say that this is entirely due to the USA losing its appeal as an international study destination due to a host of reasons. These include arbitrary cancellations of F1 student visas after President Donald Trump assumed office in November 2023, lack of certainty on the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programmes for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) students, suspension of visa interviews following a social media review policy, and increased layoffs in American companies.
