Active student records from India at U.S. institutions dropped 13.5% in October from a year earlier, outpacing the overall international decline and showing different trends across degree levels.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS) recorded about 317,000 active records for Indian students in October 2026. The total for all international students’ records fell 7.07% over the same period. Records from China declined 10.2%.
The change varied by program. Indian master’s-level records fell 20.1% year over year, while bachelor’s-level records were down 6.5%. Doctoral records rose 45.9%.
The Indian total peaked at about 387,000 in September 2024. It stood at roughly 366,000 in October 2025 and 317,000 in October 2026. During 2026, the count declined from 352,000 in January to 317,000 in October.
An Institute of International Education survey found new international student enrollment fell 17% in 2025-26. Among institutions that reported enrollment declines, 96% cited visa-related concerns.
The survey’s enrollment figure and SEVIS’s active-record figures measure different things: one tracks new enrollment, while the other counts active records. The data show declines in both measures, but do not establish what caused the drop in Indian records.
