NEW YORK: The US Embassy and Consulates in India issued an all-time record of more than 1,40,000 student visas from October 2022 through September 2023, the State Department announced.
Stating that international students at US colleges and universities inject up to $38 billion annually into the country’s economy, the department said on Tuesday that it issued more than 6,00,000 student visas the highest in any year since FY 2017. During the main student visa season of June-August 2023, consular officers across India issued 95,269 visas in the F, M, and J categories an 18 per cent increase over 2022 during the same timeframe.
According to Open Doors Report data, India surpassed China to become the largest source of international graduate students in the US for the first time since 2009-10. The number of Indian graduate students rose by 63 per cent to 165,936 students an increase of nearly 64,000 students, compared to last year.