Number of Indian students in US rose by 12% last year

Washington, April 7

The number of Indian students in the US increased by over 12 per cent in 2021, while those from China, which accounts for the largest number, dropped by more than 8 per cent, according to an official report.

In its annual report released on Wednesday, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said the Covid pandemic continued to impact international student enrolment in the US in 2021. The total number of SEVIS records for active F-1 and M-1 students was 1,236,748 in the calendar year 2021, a decrease of 1.2 per cent from the calendar year 2020.

SEVIS stands for Students and Exchange Visitor Information System. F-1 and M-1 are the two non-immigrant student visas. J-1 is also a non-immigrant student visa but is mostly given to scholars exchange programmes.

In 2021, 8,038 SEVP-certified schools were eligible to enrol international students, registering a decrease by 280 schools from 8,369 eligible schools in 2020.

The number of students from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin. —