US Student Visas for Indian Nationals Plunge 62% Amid OPT Programme Criticism

US student visas issued to Indian nationals have plunged 62 per cent in 2025, according to a new report that also calls for scrapping the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme, arguing that it hurts American workers. The proposal, if adopted, could affect thousands of Indian students hoping to work in the US after graduation. The number of US visas issued to Indian students has seen a sharp decline in 2025 as compared to 2024, a move that could be beneficial for American students and highlights President Donald Trump ’s administration’s strict immigration measures introduced recently, affecting F-1 visa applicants, news agency PTI reported on Wednesday, citing data analysed by think tank Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). The United States immigration authorities issued 22,149 student visas to Indian nationals in 2025 as against 58,694 in 2024. The report also highlighted a dip in student visas issued to China, with a 34 per cent decline to 40,034 in 2025, compared with 61,075 in 2024. 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 (1,177,766) at the post-secondary level in the United States, PTI reported. “Of the more than one million foreign students in the US during the 2024-25 academic year, about 294,253 students had already completed their degrees and were working in the US pursuant to ‘Optional Practical Training’ (OPT),” the report stated, quoting the IIE data. The report, which has been critical of OPT, a temporary work program for eligible F-1 student visa holders in the US, revealed that under the OPT programme in 2024-25, about 49 per cent (143,740) were from India, followed by 21 per cent or 61,981 from China. Optional Practical Training (OPT) is a US work programme that allows eligible international students on F-1 visas to gain temporary work experience related to their field of study after completing their degree. OPT is one of the most important post-study work pathways for Indian students, allowing them to gain US work experience and improve their chances of securing long-term employment or an H-1B visa after graduation. “I have advocated for the termination of OPT in order to protect the wages and employment opportunities of American students and workers,” said George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies and the author of the report. Fishman added, “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.”