After a sharp decline in 2020 and 2021, international student enrollment appears to have largely recovered, according to the Institute of International Education’s annual study.
After a sharp decline in 2020 and 2021, international student enrollment appears to have largely recovered, according to the Institute of International Education’s annual study.
The United States is expected to issue the highest number of student visas since 2016, according to the U.S. State Department and ApplyBoard, a Canadian-based international student recruitment platform.
The number of visas issued for fiscal 2023 has already exceeded 392,000, while 471,728 F1 student visas were issued in fiscal 2016. In the last full year, over 411,131 international student visas were granted by the State Department—including F1s.
The State Department has prioritized facilitating foreign students and academic exchange visitors to study in the United States, a spokesperson stated in an email to VOA. The agency is on track to issue more student visas this year than it has since 2016.
The number of student visas issued in the US, while still below its 2015 record of 644,000, is an encouraging sign that long-term growth is on the horizon, according to ApplyBoard’s July 18th report.
After a sharp decline in 2020 and 2021, international student enrollment appears to have largely recovered, according to the Institute of International Education’s annual study released last November. US colleges are reporting increased applications for admission as demand for post-pandemic studies rises.
Uzbekistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Vietnam have achieved 25-year highs in student visas issued from fiscal 2021 to 2022, according to ApplyBoard. The Asian nations topped the list of countries seeing the largest percentage increases in visa issuance. It is also the first time Uzbekistan has been at the top of this list.
A record number of African students were granted F1 visas in 2022, according to a recent report. Nigeria and Ghana issued the highest amounts of student visas in their countries’ histories that year.
Visa issuances to students from Africa soared in fiscal 2022, with more than 30,700 visas granted compared to 21,037 in 2018 and 20,165 in 2019. This number plunged due to the pandemic in 2020, dropping to 7,333 before rising again to 23,229 in 2021.
In 2022, China and India were the top two countries for international students in the US, representing 52 percent of all foreign enrollees. Students from China totaled 290,086—a decline of 9 percent. From India, there were roughly 200,000—an increase of 19 percent.
The U.S. State Department said it issued 411,131 student visas in fiscal 2022—a 10-year high—while refusing 220,676. The data was described as “overwhelmingly good” by ApplyBoard.
“The new F1 visa data should be music to the ears of international recruitment offices around the United States,” the report stated.
