Student visa denials in the United States reached a decade-high during the fiscal year 2023-2024, with 41% of F-1 visa applications being rejected—nearly double the rejection rate seen in the 2014 fiscal year, according to an analysis of State Department data by The Indian Express.
During the 2023-24 fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), the US received 679,000 F-1 visa applications, of which 279,000 were rejected, a sharp rise from the last fiscal year, when 253,000 of 699,000 applications (36%) were rejected.
Though the US State Department has not issued country-specific F-1 visa refusal rates, The Indian Express mentioned that the total number of Indian nationals receiving student visas in the first nine months of 2024 fell 38% below the corresponding nine months of 2023.
Though the number of student visa applications overall in the last decade has decreased, the rate of rejections has increased. The most applications were received in the 2014-15 financial year at 856,000, but that declined steadily, reaching a low point in the pandemic year of 2020 at 162,000. Applications have increased since then, but in the year 2023-24, there was a minor 3% drop from the previous year, from 699,000 to 679,000. This resulted in 279,000 visa rejections, the highest rejection rate in a decade at least. The issuance of F-1 visas in 2023-24 also declined, from 445,000 the year before to 401,000.
The F-1 visa is a non-immigrant student visa for students in US academic institutions, while the M-1 visa is for vocational schools. The majority of US student visas, over 90%, are F-1 visas.
In response to a question about the increase in F-1 visa denials, a State Department spokesperson clarified that each case is evaluated separately, in accordance with the terms of the Immigration and Nationality Act and federal regulations. The spokesperson further reported a "change in methodology" for reporting visa data since FY2019, pointing out that the department's new system follows final determinations of visa cases, including updates, and not workload measurements, as previously practiced.
Even though the department does not publish refusal rates for specific countries, *The Indian Express* in December 2024 reported that 64,008 student visas were granted to Indian nationals between January and September 2024, compared to 103,000 in the corresponding period of 2023. In comparison, 65,000 student visas were granted to Indians in 2021, and 93,000 in 2022.
Indian students form a large number of foreign students in the US. Indian students edged out Chinese students in 2023-24, accounting for 29.4% of all foreign students in the US, states the Open Doors 2024 report. There were 331,000 Indian students in the US during the period, the most for India so far.
This increase in F-1 visa denials follows a worldwide trend in which other nations are limiting the number of international students. Canada, in 2024, placed a limit on study permits issued, reducing them by 35% compared to the previous year as a result of pressures on housing, healthcare, and other services.
The UK, which has India as its second-largest source country for international students, has also limited the entry of foreign students with dependents, causing international student enrollment to drop by as much as 40% in certain British universities.
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