Over 44% drop in Indian students to US in August

Govt data shows this is lowest since pandemic (2020)

- ABHINAYA HARIGOVIND

AHEAD OF THE start of the Fall semester at American universities, the number of Indian student arrivals in the United States in August fell to the lowest since the Covid pandemic (2020), registering an over 44% decrease as compared to the corresponding period last year.

As per data maintained by the International Trade Administration—a US government agency under the Department of Commerce which records international visitor arrivals—41,540 Indians arrived in US on student visas (F and M categories) in August this year. This is the lowest since 2020, when travel restrictions were in place due to the pandemic.

In 2021, there were over 56,000 Indians who arrived on student visas in the US, which increased to 80,486 in 2022, and 93,833 in 2023.The number dipped in August 2024 to 74,825 (see chart).

Pre-pandemic, Indian student arrivals in the US were higher in the last two years of the second Obama administration as compared to this August—49,797 in August 2015, and 44,722 in August 2016. It dropped to 41,192 in August 2017, the first year of Donald Trump’s first term as president, and remained close to 41,000 in 2018 and 2019.

As data for previous years show, with the Fall semester beginning in August/September, arrivals on student visas typically peak in August.