US visa issuance dropped 36 per cent last summer after interview pause

In late May 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a pause on new student visa interviews around the world while new social media vetting procedures were put in place, a delay that eventually lasted three weeks.

In June-August 2025, the total number of student visas (F, M & J) granted around the world was 186,180, the latest Department of State dataset shows. This represented a 36 per cent decrease compared with 289,845 visas in the same period of the previous year, and a drop of 46 per cent compared with 347,845 in the same months of 2023.

New international student enrolments are expected to have decreased in the 2025/26 academic year.

The decrease in student visas issued was most apparent in the month of June, when the pause on new interviews was in place. The 60,941 visas issued was a 49 per cent decrease compared with June 2024.

In previous years, June has been the highest month of the summer for student visa issuance ahead of the new academic year, underlining sector complaints last year that the pause in visa interviews came at the worst possible time for the sector.

In July 2025, there were 73,614 student visas granted, a decrease of 34 per cent against July 2024 levels, analysis by Shorelight shows.

There were 51,605 visas issued in August 2025, which was a six per cent decrease compared with the corresponding month in the previous year and suggested some recovery towards regular levels.

Nonetheless, it would appear that the additional bureaucracy of the new vetting measures and potentially higher rates of refusals as a result of those rules prevented a catch-up ahead of the 2025/26 academic year.

Source markets: In the June to August 2025 period, the number of visas granted to Indian students declined by 69 per cent compared with the previous year, while there was a drop of 40 per cent for China.

These two markets are comfortably the largest for US higher education institutions, and the large drop in visas issued indicates that a significant drop in new student enrolments at colleges and universities in the current 2025/26 academic year is likely.

In summer 2024, India accounted for 17 per cent of students visas issued. Last year, that ratio fell to only eight per cent.

There were also large decreases in summer 2025 for Nepal (-77), Nigeria (-67), Colombia (-46) and Vietnam (-27), while Germany, South Korea, Spain and Japan also had double-digit declines in that period.

Harvard University, which was engaged in a public argument with President Trump over student visas. Photo – Harvard University/Kris Snippe

The Fall 2025 Snapshot on International Enrolment by the Institute of International Education, published in November last year, was completed by 825 higher education institutions and indicated a 17 per cent decrease in new international students in the current academic year.

Previous analysis by NAFSA Association of International Educators showed that student visa issuance was already declining prior to the visa interview pause, with F-1 students visas down by 12 per cent in January-to-April 2025, compared with the same months of 2024.

The association released analysis showing that a 15 per cent drop in the total number of international students at higher education colleges and universities would equate to a US$7 billion loss for the economy.

The subsequent travel ban, which was first introduced in June and was then expanded in January this year, is likely to further impact on student visa issuance.

The travel ban currently includes major source markets including Iran and, from the most recent additions, Nigeria. Other African markets affected include Zimbabwe and Tanzania, which both had more than 1,000 students enrolled at US universities in 2024/25.

The Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed that it is considering changes to the Optional Practical Training (OPT) stream of post-study work rights. Any restriction on rights is likely to further dampen demand for higher education study.