US rejects record number of international student visas as denial rates soar

The US remains the most popular country for international students to pursue their careers. However, America’s student visa denial rate is on the rise, according to new data.

An analysis of State Department data by The Indian Express shows that during the past fiscal year (October 2023–September 2024), 41% of international student visa applications were denied, a ten-year high for US student visa denials. This is nearly double the rejection rate for the 2014 fiscal year.

In 2023-24, the US received a total of 6.79 lakh applications for F-1 student visas, with 2.79 lakh (41%) denied. This represents an increase from 2022-23, when 2.53 lakh applications (36%) of a total of 6.99 lakh were rejected.

Although the US State Department did not provide data on the country-wise refusal rate, The Indian Express reported a 38% decrease in student visas issued to Indians in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Asked what explains the rise in F-1 visa rejections, a Department of State spokesperson told The Indian Express: “All visa adjudications are adjudicated on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and applicable federal regulations.”

For the first time since 2009, India had more students studying in America than China. According to the Open Doors Report, India sent 331,602 international students to study in the United States in 2023-2024, representing a 23% increase over the previous year.

India’s enrollments increased primarily at the graduate level, with 196,567 students enrolled, a 19% increase. In the Optional Practical Training (OPT) academic levels, 97,556 students enrolled, marking a 41% increase.

The number of new international students enrolling at a U.S. college or university for the first time remained robust, with 298,705 new international students in 2023/2024, matching the previous year’s total and pre-pandemic levels.

Based on data released by the Ministry of External Affairs, Canada is the largest host nation with 427,000 Indian students, followed by the United States (337,630), the United Kingdom (185,000), Australia (122,202), and Germany (42,997).

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, international students accounted for 6% of the total U.S. higher education population and contributed more than $50 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023.

Another alarming thing was the overstays of students in America after the expiry of their visa period. Immigration expert Jessica M. Vaughan disclosed that more than 7,000 Indian students and exchange travelers overstayed their visas in the United States in 2023 during a recent hearing before the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary. The F and M visa categories have the highest overstay rates of any of the broad categories of temporary admission. The Center for Immigration Studies’ Vaughan urged Congress to take serious changes to the nation’s immigration laws into account, especially regarding the H-1B visa program.

According to the data, the percentage of student visa denials increased even as the absolute number of applications from across all countries dipped over the last decade. During this period, the total number of applications peaked at 8.56 lakh in 2014-15, but saw a steady dip in the next few years, till it hit a low of 1.62 lakh in the Covid year of 2019-2020.

Post-Covid, while the number of applications steadily increased, there was a 3% decrease in 2023-24 — from 6.99 lakh in 2022-23 to 6.79 lakh in 2023-24. As a result, the absolute number of visa denials in the last fiscal year (2.79 lakh) represents the highest percentage in at least a decade. A total of 4.01 lakh F-1 visas were issued in 2023-24, down from 4.45 lakh the previous year.

The F-1 visa is a non-immigrant category for students attending academic institutions in the US, while the M-1 visa covers vocational and non-academic programmes. The Indian Express analysis focused on F-1 visas, which account for over 90 per cent of US student visas annually.

The State Department did not share data on the country-wise refusal rate for F1 visas, and said they “do not publish data to the granularity requested”. The spokesperson also pointed to a “change in methodology” for calculating visa data from FY2019 onwards, and said the annual ‘Report of the Visa Office’ is to be referred to for final statistics for the fiscal year.

“Our previous methodology was based on a count of workload actions, which were not linked by application. The new methodology more accurately reflects outcomes from the visa application process during a specified reporting period. The new methodology follows visa applications, including updates to their status (i.e., issued or refused), which could change as the fiscal year progresses, or result in slight changes in data for earlier years. Therefore, beginning with FY 2020, individual monthly issuance reports should not be aggregated, as this will not provide an accurate issuance total for the fiscal year to date,” the spokesperson said.

Data on visa issuances and refusals are, however, available for the entire fiscal year, and not as monthly reports. The department did not offer any further clarification on this.

While country-wise break-up of F-1 visa rejection is not available, The Indian Express had reported last December that 64,008 student visas were issued to Indians from January to September in 2024, down from 1.03 lakh in the corresponding period in 2023. The State Department website now says that the monthly reports from March to September were updated in December 2024. With this, the total for the nine months from January to September is a slightly lower figure of 63,973.

According to data, 65,235 visas were issued during the corresponding period in 2021, and 93,181 in 2022.

Indian students constitute a significant proportion of the international student cohort in the US. The Open Doors 2024 report showed that in 2023-24, the number of Indian students surpassed that of the Chinese, making Indians the largest international student cohort (29.4% of international students) in the US. There were 3.31 lakh Indian students in the US in 2023-24, the highest figure for the Indian cohort so far, according to the Open Doors data.

The increase in F-1 rejections comes at a time when some other countries have sought to limit the number of international students. Canada, for instance, announced in 2024 that it would cap the number of study permits, meaning a decrease of 35% compared to 2023. It explained then that “increases in the number of international students puts pressure on housing, healthcare and other services.” It announced a further 10% decrease in study permits in 2025.