US student visas for Indians fall 62% as OPT workers near 3 lakh

Washington,UPDATED: Aug 5, 2026 22:26 IST

A report in the US has said nearly three lakh foreign students were working in the country under the Optional Practical Training (OPT) programme after completing their studies in 2024-25, even as student visas issued by the US fell sharply for Indian and Chinese nationals. The report, authored by George Fishman, a senior legal fellow at the Centre for Immigration Studies (CIS), argued that the OPT programme should be scrapped.

The report said the number of student visas issued to Indian students fell 62 per cent in 2025 compared with the previous year, while visas issued to Chinese students declined 34 per cent. Fishman said the drop would benefit American students and workers.

According to the report, the US issued 22,149 student visas to Indian nationals in 2025, down from 58,694 in 2024. Visas issued to students from China fell to 40,034 in 2025 from 61,075 a year earlier.

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, numbering 11,77,766, at the post-secondary level, according to the annual census by the Institute of Education (IIE). Quoting the IIE census, the report said, "Of the more than one million foreign students in the US during the 2024/25 academic year, fully one-quarter (294,253) had already completed their degrees and were working in the US pursuant to 'Optional Practical Training' (OPT)."

It said that of the total number of students working under the OPT programme in 2024-25, 49 per cent or 1,43,740 were from India, followed by 21 per cent or 61,981 from China. Fishman said, "I have advocated for the termination of OPT in order to protect the wages and employment opportunities of American students and workers; and 2) end the George W. Bush and Obama administrations' disgraceful use of the OPT program to subvert the will of Congress." He 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."

The CIS report used the May-August period for comparison, saying a bulk of each year's F-1 visas are issued during these months ahead of the upcoming academic year. It said that in 2024, 77 per cent of all F-1 visas issued to Indian nationals and 76 per cent issued to Chinese nationals were granted during this period. Overall, the report linked the fall in student visas with the large presence of Indian and Chinese students in US higher education and in post-study work under the OPT programme.

With PTI Inputs

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