Studying abroad is a dream for many Indian students. Every year, we see many Indian students travelling to the United States to pursue higher studies. In fact, India surpassed China to become the largest sender of students to the USA earlier this year. In 2023-24, India sent 3.30 lakh students, whereas China sent 2.77 lakh. Reports say that around 29% of the international students in the US are from India.
However, there has been a serious drop in the F-1 student visas issued to Indians in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
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According to reports, there is a 38% drop in the F-1 student visas issued to Indians. A total of 64,008 visas were issued from January to September this year. On the other side, 1,03,495 visas were issued during the same period in 2023.
A total of 65,235 and 93,181 visas were issued during the same period in 2021 and 2022 respectively. In 2020, only 6,646 visas were issued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Not only Indians but there is also a drop in the F-1 visas issued to Chinese students. However, the drop percentage was just 8%. This year, from January to September, 73,781 student visas were issued to Chinese students, compared to 80,603 during the same period in 2023.
The exact reason behind the significant drop in issuing visas to Indians remains unknown, and officials have not revealed any details about it.
