US Colleges See Sharp Decline in Indian Students Amid Visa Crackdown

The "Open Doors" report by the Institute of International Education, released on Monday, showed that over 61 per cent of the total schools have reported a drop in enrollment of Indian students in the fall of 2025.

The data, based on a survey of 825 US institutions, showed that more than 96 per cent of US institutions reporting declines in new students cite visa application concerns as the top reason, followed by travel restrictions to the United States.

However, in 2024-25, India remained the biggest source of foreign students in the United States, representing almost half of the total graduate students and around one-third of the total students, registering an overall increase of 10 per cent. At the same time, graduate programs saw a decline of 10 per cent.

According to the report, over half of the US colleges and universities surveyed for the fall of 2025 said their new international student enrollment had declined.

In recent months, the Trump administration has intensified its scrutiny of international students, rolling out a series of measures that universities say are already weighing on enrolment.

The Department of Labour opened more than 170 investigations into alleged abuses of the H-1B visa pipeline, a major post-study route for foreign graduates.

The White House has also backed a new $100,000 application fee for H-1B applications.

A White House spokesperson on Friday defended the Trump administration's H-1B visa policy, telling IANS that the $100,000 application fee is a "significant first step to stop abuses of the system."

"The $100,000 payment required to supplement new H1-B visa applications is a significant first step to stop abuses of the system and ensure American workers are no longer replaced by lower-paid foreign labour," White House Spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told IANS.

At the same time, conservative lawmakers have pushed legislation to sharply curtail or even phase out the H-1B program entirely, with proposals that would strip visa holders of any pathway to permanent residency.

On Friday, Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene posted on X, reiterating her plans to introduce a bill to "ban H1B visas in all sectors" except the medical profession.

"Ending H1B visas will also help the housing market. Ending H1B visas means more jobs available for Americans and more homes available for Americans...When Americans have good-paying jobs, they will be able to buy homes as long as they don't have to compete with legally imported labour on visas and rich, powerful asset management companies," she added.

In addition, the State Department has revoked at least 6,000 international students' visas since January.

International students make up about 6 per cent of the U.S. higher education population and inject nearly $55 billion into the American economy, according to the US Department of Commerce. Their spending supports more than 355,000 jobs across the country.

- IANS