As U.S. pauses new visa interviews, why international students matter | Data

Students from India and China unneurotic formed much than 50% of each planetary students U.S. past year | Photo Credit: Reuters

The U.S. has paused scheduling of caller visa interviews globally and expanded its vetting of accounts of overseas students connected societal media. This is the latest determination successful a bid of intrusive measures carried retired by the Donald Trump medication targeting planetary students and premier universities successful the U.S.

This determination comes days aft the medication tried to artifact the University of Harvard from enrolling planetary students. Only a period ago, the authorities targeted respective U.S. universities, accusing them of fostering anti-Semitism. Earlier this year, the authorities besides revoked thousands of planetary pupil visas with hardly immoderate notice. The medication claims that the determination is portion of wide-ranging efforts to bounds immigration. Data bespeak that it could person a important interaction connected U.S. universities and the U.S. economy.

The Open Doors International students’ information shows that the U.S. hosted an all-time precocious of much than 1.1 cardinal planetary students successful 2023-2024, a 6.6% summation from the erstwhile year. Students from India and China unneurotic formed much than 50% of each planetary students U.S. past twelvemonth (Chart 1).

Chart 1 | The fig of planetary students to the U.S. successful the 2016-17 to 2023-24 period

A Data Point article published past period recovered that the fig of pupil visas issued to Indians by the U.S. dropped by 30% successful February 2025, the archetypal period of the 2nd Trump administration, compared to the aforesaid period the erstwhile year. This diminution was overmuch higher than the wide alteration successful pupil visas granted by the U.S. to each countries combined.

On May 28, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the U.S. State Department volition enactment with the Department of Homeland Security to aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with “connections” to the Chinese Communist Party oregon studying successful captious fields.

Data shows that international students from India and China are engaged successful cardinal subject and probe fields and lend importantly to the U.S. economy. They besides formed the highest stock among planetary students who applied for Optional Practical Training Extension for STEM Students. This allows eligible F-1 planetary students with STEM degrees to summation further enactment acquisition successful the U.S. and enactment for an leader (Chart 2).

Chart 2 | Country-wise fig of pupil speech programme records with authorisations to enactment successful STEM OPT

They besides remained the apical countries of root of impermanent visa holders earning U.S. probe doctorates successful subject and engineering. In 2023, adjacent to 6,000 impermanent visa holders from China and 2,583 from India earned U.S. probe doctorates (Chart 3).

Chart 3 | Top countries of root of impermanent visa holders earning U.S. probe doctorates successful subject and engineering

They besides formed a precocious stock of foreign-born graduates moving successful subject and engineering (S&E) fields and S&E-related fields successful the U.S. successful 2023. Indians formed the highest share, compared to different foreign-born graduates, crossed S&E and S&E-related occupations (Chart 4).

Chart 4 | Employed foreign-born assemblage graduates by wide tract of concern successful 2023

In general, planetary students signifier a cardinal stock among enrolments of master’s and doctoral students successful the fields of science, engineering and wellness (Chart 5).

Chart 5 | Enrollment of master’s and doctoral students successful science, engineering, and wellness fields by citizenship

NAFSA’s economical worth investigation shows that planetary students brought successful $43.8 cardinal to the U.S system successful 2023 done tuition fees, and spending connected lodging and surviving (Chart 6). Their estimates besides amusement that planetary students helped make and enactment lakhs of jobs successful the U.S.

Chart 6 | Economic benefits of planetary pupil enrolment to the U.S. (Values successful $ billion)

A probe insubstantial titled ‘Immigrant Entrepreneurs and U.S. Billion-dollar companies’ noted that 143 billion-dollar start-up companies successful the U.S. person a laminitis who came to the U.S. archetypal arsenic an planetary student. Also, 174 planetary students became founders oregon co-founders of U.S billion-dollar companies.

The information for the charts were sourced from Open Doors, NAFSA, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCES), and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The NAFSA’s International Student Economic Value Tool defines economical worth arsenic the magnitude of wealth that planetary students studying astatine U.S. colleges and universities collectively bring into the U.S to wage for their acquisition and to enactment themselves portion they (and successful immoderate cases, their families) are determination successful the U.S.

sambavi.p@thehindu.co.in

Published - June 05, 2025 07:00 americium IST