One in four international students in US were from India: At 4.2 lakh Indian students, fuelled surge in numbers during 2024

The whole variety of energetic F-1 and M-1 international scholar SEVIS data in the US were a whopping 15.8 lakh in 2024, marking a 5.3% improve over the earlier calendar yr. According to a report launched by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – ‘SEVIS by the Numbers 2024’, whereas international students hailed from greater than 229 international locations, this progress was considerably fuelled by students from India.Asia had the most important variety of energetic international scholar data in the US, practically 11 lakh students from this continent accounted for practically 72% of the overall overseas scholar inhabitants. Nearly 4.2 lakh Indian students represented a rise of 11.8% in comparison with 2023, whereas the three.2 lakh overseas scholar data from China, which is the opposite main supply nation, represented a small lower of 0.25 p.c in comparison with 2023. Indian students represent practically 27% of the overall overseas scholar inhabitants in 2024, adopted by Chinese at 20%.The information in this report is drawn from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a web-based system that the Department of Homeland Security makes use of to keep up and handle data on overseas students and trade guests. While the F-1 visa is held by these present process educational research programs, the M-1 visa is given to students present process vocational applications.According to the ICE-report, greater than 90% or to be exact 14.3 lakh international students were enrolled in greater schooling diploma applications, California enrolled the most important variety of overseas students at 2.37 lakh, adopted by New York at 1.72 lakh. attracted the utmost variety of international studentsWhile this ICE-report is predicated on information for 2024, the current developments will not be as rosy. Chris R. Glass, a professor and better schooling specialist at Boston College analysed SEVIS information between March 2024 to March 2025. According to him, “The overall decline of -11.3% from March 2024 (with 11.53 lakh active students) to March 2025 (with 10.22 lakh active students) is remarkable in both scale and speed.”His research reveals that the variety of students from India declined by practically 28% from 3.54 lakh in March 2024 to 2.55 lakh a yr later. The variety of Chinese students rose marginally by 3.28% to face at 2.63 lakh as of March 2025.Glass factors out that “The current year-over-year decline is a reflection of an enrollment cycle that began under the Biden administration, so the March 2025 numbers have yet to reflect any impacts of policies implemented under the second Trump administration.”Anecdotal proof means that US is dropping its lustre as a lovely research vacation spot for Indian students owing to a mess of things similar to: The arbitrary termination of SEVIS data and/or F1 visas of international students – which led many to self deport, whereas others stayed again to battle it out in courts; the uncertainty regarding continuity of the prolonged non-obligatory sensible coaching program (OPT) for STEM students, the short-term suspension of consulate interviews pending launch of a social-media scrutiny coverage and mass layoffs in company America. Thus, the numbers for March 2026 might be a lot decrease.

Indian students dominate the STEM discipline:

While international students are eligible for a one yr OPT, these from the Science, Technology, Mathematics and Engineering (STEM) fields, put up their commencement, get a further two years of labor expertise beneath the OPT program.There were 1.94 lakh OPT students with each an employment authorization doc (EAD) and who reported working for an employer in 2024, in comparison with 1.60 lakh 2023. This marks a 21.1 p.c improve from 2023 and the fourth yr of consecutive progress, states the ICE-Report.In 2024, practically 1.65 lakh international students participated in the STEM-OPT extension program. The ICE-report factors out that Indian students are significantly distinguished in the post-completion OPT- STEM extension program, accounting for a considerable 48.0% of members. and 20.4% from China.