A sharp 69 per cent fall in US F-1 visas issued to Indian students in June and July 2025, compared to the same period in 2024, has raised fresh concerns about international enrolments at American universities.
According to figures from the US Department of State, the number of F-1 visas issued to Indian students shows a steep drop during the key months ahead of the Fall academic session, following immigration-related policy changes introduced by the administration of Donald Trump.
Only 12,776 F-1 visas were issued to Indian students during June and July 2025, less than a third of the 41,336 visas issued in the same months in 2024, the data shows.
The June-July period is critical because the Fall semester in US universities begins in August or September, and visa issuances for Indian students typically peak during these months.
An F-1 visa is a non-immigrant, temporary visa for international students to study full-time at accredited U.S. colleges, universities, or language programs.
Data shows that visa approvals surged in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of F-1 visas issued to Indian students in June and July rose from 40,194 in 2021 to 62,229 in 2022 and peaked at 72,027 in 2023. The numbers then dropped to 41,336 in 2024, even before the new administration took office, before plunging further in 2025.
Monthly figures illustrate the sharp decline. In June 2025, 10,695 visas were issued, but the number dropped sharply to 2,081 in July and 2,389 in August. In comparison, the highest monthly figure in 2024 was 26,731 visas in June, while June 2023 saw 40,224 visas issued to Indian students.
China also saw a decline in F-1 visas during the same period, though the drop was smaller. Chinese students received 17,025 visas in June and July 2025, a fall of around 56 per cent compared to 2024, but still higher than the 12,776 issued to Indian students.
The last time Chinese students received more visas than Indians during these months was in 2021, when 55,059 Chinese students received visas compared to 40,194 Indian students. In the years since then, the number of Indian students receiving F-1 visas had remained higher. For instance, in June and July 2023, more than 72,000 visas were issued to Indian students, compared to 42,854 for Chinese students.
The drop had already begun earlier in 2025. Only 9,906 F-1 visas were issued to Indian students between March and May 2025, marking the lowest figure for those months since the pandemic and a 27 per cent decline from the previous year.
The sharp fall during the peak visa months followed several measures introduced by the administration. In late May 2025, the US State Department paused interviews for student visa applicants for several weeks, resuming them only on June 18.
Announcing the pause, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was aimed at preparing for expanded vetting measures, including additional screening of applicants' social media activity.
Soon after, the US Embassy in India asked applicants for F, M and J category visas, covering students and exchange visitors, to set their social media privacy settings to "public" to facilitate vetting. Applicants were also required to disclose all social media usernames used over the past five years on their visa forms.
Earlier policy actions had already triggered anxiety among students. Research grants were frozen at several universities, including Harvard University and Stanford University, affecting academic projects and graduate opportunities.
In April 2025, some international students, particularly those involved in pro-Palestine campus protests or legal proceedings, found their Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records abruptly terminated, effectively cancelling their legal student status. These records were later restored following lawsuits challenging the move.
The trend is not limited to Indian students. A new analysis of State Department data by the Chronicle of Higher Education found that the United States issued 97,000 fewer F-1 student visas worldwide between May and August 2025, representing a 36 per cent decline compared to the same period in 2024.
A preliminary survey conducted last year had estimated a 17 per cent drop in new international student enrolments, but the new visa data suggests the fall could be much steeper.
According to the analysis, American consulates in India issued only about 22,000 student visas during the summer of 2025, a decline of more than 60 per cent, highlighting the sharp fall from the country that has been the largest source of international students for the US.
The analysis suggests, the drop may reflect both the temporary freeze on visa interviews and declining interest in studying in the United States following policy changes, including the cancellation of legal status for thousands of foreign students earlier in the year.
Other proposals, such as placing time limits on student visas and changes to a federal programme that allows international graduates to work in the US for up to three years, may also have influenced students' decisions. At the same time, potential cuts to research funding led some universities to reduce graduate admissions, particularly in research-heavy programmes.
International students play a crucial role in the US higher education system. They make up a significant share of master's and doctoral programmes, especially in STEM fields, and are a major source of revenue for universities.
According to NAFSA: Association of International Educators, international students contributed nearly 43 billion dollars to the US economy last year.
Data from the Open Doors report shows that 3.63 lakh Indian students were studying in the US in the 2024-25 academic year, accounting for around 31 per cent of all international students in the country. Students from China formed the second-largest group, with around 23 per cent of total international enrolment.
Indian students had overtaken Chinese students to become the largest international student cohort in the United States for the first time in the 2023-24 academic year, according to the report.
