US may see drop in Indian students over Trump administration's Visa crackdown

Guwahati, April 20: India is a leading source of international students in the universities of the United States, but the recent actions of the Donald Trump administration may put their career at risk and official sources said that if the trend continues, the number of students going to the US may drop abruptly this year.

According to records available, around three lakh students from India go to the US for higher education every year, which constitutes around 25 per cent of the total number of foreign students going to that country for higher education. In the year 2023-24, more than 3.31 lakh Indian students went to the US for higher education. In fact, Indian students have surpassed the Chinese in number in recent times.

But the Trump administration’s recent action has made the students apprehensive. The Trump administration recently cancelled student visas of more than 1,000 foreign students that has made other students apprehensive as no one knows when their visas will be revoked.

Sources expressed the view that the number of Indian students going to the US may drop substantially as everyone would be apprehensive before trying to go to that country for higher education.

“What will happen if the visa of a student is revoked without any notice and they are deported from the country? The career of such students will be ruined,” sources said.

At the same time, the American universities will also suffer without foreign students. There will not be shortage of students for the universities in the undergraduate level. But the universities may suffer from shortage of students in postgraduate and research scholar levels if foreign students stop going to the US, sources said.

Sources further pointed out that other advanced countries like Germany may take the benefit from the recent action of the Trump administration as the universities of those countries may be able to attract Indian students going for higher education.