Student visas issued by the United States (US) to Indian nationals dropped by 62 per cent in 2025, according to a new report by the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), a Washington based think tank. The report also calls for scrapping the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, arguing that it hurts American workers.
The numbers
US authorities issued 22,149 student visas to Indian nationals in 2025, down from 58,694 in 2024. The decline places India among the worst hit countries under President Donald Trump’s administration’s tighter immigration measures for F-1 visa applicants, PTI reports.China saw a comparatively smaller fall. Visas issued to Chinese nationals dropped 34 per cent, from 61,075 in 2024 to 40,034 in 2025.Indian and Chinese students together form the bulk of the foreign student population in the US. According to the annual census by the Institute of International Education (IIE), in the 2024-25 academic year, 3,63,019 students from India and 2,65,919 from China made up 53 per cent of all foreign students in the country. The total foreign student population stood at 1,177,766 at the post secondary level.
What is OPT
Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a US work programme that allows eligible F-1 student visa holders to gain temporary work experience related to their field of study after completing their degree.
- It is available to eligible F-1 student visa holders
- Allows graduates to work in the US after completing their studies
- Standard OPT is valid for up to 12 months
- Eligible STEM graduates can apply for a 24 month STEM OPT extension, taking the total to up to 36 months
- Work must be directly related to the student’s major
- Often serves as a pathway to H-1B sponsorship and long term employment
OPT remains one of the most important post study work pathways for Indian students. It allows them to gain US work experience and improves their chances of securing long term employment or an H-1B visa after graduation.
Indian students make up nearly half of all OPT participants
The report states that of the more than one million foreign students in the US during the 2024-25 academic year, about 294,253 had already completed their degrees and were working in the US under OPT, quoting IIE data.Of these OPT participants, 49 per cent, or 143,740 students, were from India. China followed with 21 per cent, or 61,981 students.
CIS calls for scrapping OPT
The report is authored by George Fishman, senior legal fellow at CIS, who has been a long standing critic of the OPT programme.“I have advocated for the termination of OPT in order to protect the wages and employment opportunities of American students and workers,” Fishman said.Short of a full termination, Fishman argued for cutting down the pipeline of foreign OPT participants from India and China specifically.“But, short of that, reducing the OPT pipeline of foreign students from India and the PRC, who make up the majority of all OPT participants, will reduce the deleterious effects of OPT on American students and workers,” he said.
Why it matters
A steep fall in student visas combined with a push to scrap or shrink OPT would hit Indian students on two fronts. Fewer visas mean fewer Indian students can enrol in US universities in the first place. A scaled back or terminated OPT programme would then limit the ability of those already enrolled, or newly graduating, to work in the US after their degrees.For a country that sends the highest number of foreign students to the US and dominates OPT enrolment, both developments point to a narrowing pathway between Indian classrooms and American workplaces.
