Why Are So Many Indian Students 50% Visas Being Revoked in the U.S.?

Indian students are especially concerned about the US government’s recent crackdown on foreign students. Indian students have accounted for roughly half of the 327 recent visa revocations that the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has compiled. ‘The Scope of Immigration Enforcement Actions Against International Students’, the AILA brief, notes that 51% of these students were from India and 14% were from China. Additionally, Bangladesh, Nepal, and South Korea are included in the data.

Over the past four months, the US State Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been screening information about foreign students, including their activism. Some claim that artificial intelligence is used in this screening process, which could result in the incorrect targeting of students who have no criminal records or connections to protests on campus. The “Catch and Revoke” program was introduced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in March. Its purpose is to identify and screen holders of student visas, including keeping an eye on their social media accounts for indications of anti-Semitism or support for Hamas and Palestinians.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tracks visits to exchange programs and overseas students using a portal called the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). An ICE announcement states that 4,736 international students, the majority of whom had F1 visas, had their visa statuses revoked in the SEVIS system. These administrative actions, according to AILA, are unprecedented and raise a number of legal issues that would need to be litigated.

Because Optional Practical Training (OPT) holders accounted for 50% of the 327 cases, the impact of these visa revocations is substantial. For a maximum of 12 months, OPT permits foreign students with F-1 visas to work in the United States. These students are unable to work now that their visas have been canceled. These visa revocations are most common in Texas, California, New York, Michigan, and Arizona.

An Associated Press review of university statements and correspondence with school officials, however, indicates that since late March, approximately 1,000 international students at U.S. colleges, universities, and university systems have had their visas revoked or their legal status terminated.

More than half of international students attending American institutions are from China and India combined, and many of these students are losing their legal status. According to attorneys, however, the terminations were not limited to people from a particular region of the world.

The problem has been recognized by the Indian government. Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), said, “We are aware that several Indian students have received communication from the US government regarding their F-1 visa status. We are looking into the matter. Our Embassy and consulate are in touch with the students.”