Indian Students Face Setback As US Visa Approvals Drop 62% In 2025, China Sees Only 34% Fall

Published 7 August 2026 · india

News india Indian Students Face Setback As US Visa Approvals Drop 62% In 2025, China Sees Only 34% Fall Indian Students Face Setback As US

News india Indian Students Face Setback As US Visa Approvals Drop 62% In 2025, China Sees Only 34% Fall Indian Students Face Setback As US Visa Approvals Drop 62% In 2025, China Sees Only 34% Fall Published By, Last Updated: August 07, 2026, 06:31 IST The US issued 22,149 student visas to Indian nationals in 2025, down from 58,694 in 2024. For Chinese students, the number fell to 40,034 in 2025 from 61,075 the previous year. Pedestrians walk by Columbia University in Upper Manhattan, in New York City. (AFP file photo) The number of US student visas issued to Indian nationals fell by 62 per cent in 2025 compared with the previous year, a much sharper decline than the 34 per cent drop recorded for Chinese students, according to a report by a US think tank. The report, authored by George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS), said the US issued 22,149 student visas to Indian nationals in 2025, down from 58,694 in 2024.

For Chinese students, the number fell to 40,034 in 2025 from 61,075 the previous year. The report was presented by the Centre for Immigration Studies, which examined trends in foreign student visas and employment in the US under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, PTI reported. Indian, Chinese Students Dominate Numbers The report highlighted that Indian and Chinese students continued to make up a significant share of international students in the US. During the 2024-25 academic year, 3,63,019 students from India and 2,65,919 from China accounted for 53 per cent of all foreign students enrolled at the post-secondary level, according to the annual census by the Institute of International Education (IIE). The report said nearly three lakh foreign students took up temporary employment in the US after completing their studies through the OPT programme during the same period. Of the 294,253 foreign students working under OPT, 49 per cent or 143,740 were from India, followed by 21 per cent or 61,981 from China, according to figures cited in the report.

Report Calls For OPT Programme Changes Fishman argued that the OPT programme should be ended, claiming it affects employment opportunities for American students and workers. “I have advocated for the termination of OPT in order to protect the wages and employment opportunities of American students and workers; and 2) end the George W. Bush and Obama administrations’ disgraceful use of the OPT program to subvert the will of Congress," he said. The report said reducing the number of foreign students entering the OPT pipeline, particularly from India and China, would limit what it described as the programme’s impact on US workers. The CIS report compared visa issuance between May and August, when most F-1 student visas are issued ahead of the academic year. It said 77 per cent of visas issued to Indian nationals and 76 per cent issued to Chinese nationals in 2024 were granted during this period.