US student visa: F-1 visa denials surged to 10-year high last fiscal, states report

Student visa denials by the US – a rather sought-after destination for academics – reportedly soared to a 10-year high last fiscal (October 2023 to September 2024). According to a report, 41 per cent of F-1 visa applications from all countries were turned down by the US in that period. 

As per a report in The Indian Express that analysed data by the State Department, the US received 6.79 lakh applications for F-1 visas, which are a type of non-immigrant student visas that allow foreign students to study in the country’s academic institutions for a period of time. It is different from the M-1 visas that allow students to pursue vocational and non-academic programmes. In 2023-24, out of the 6.79 applications, the US denied  2.79 or 41 per cent.

This is an increase from 2022-23 when 2.53 lakh applications or 36 per cent of the total 6.99 lakh were turned down. It is also double that of the 2014 fiscal year.

The US State Department did not provide a breakdown of the country-wise refusal rate for F-1 visas, but the daily had earlier reported that the approval rate had declined by 38 per cent in the first nine months of 2024 as compared to the corresponding period the previous year.

The data revealed that the percentage of student visa denials increased even as the number of applications from across the world dipped over the last decade. 

In 2024-24, a total of 4.01 lakh visas were issued, a dip from 4.45 lakh in the previous year. 

A Department of State spokesperson informed the daily that visa adjudications are conducted on a case-by-case basis, and adhere to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and relevant federal regulations. The State Department did not disclose country-specific refusal rates for F1 visas, stating they do not release data with the requested granularity.

The spokesperson highlighted a change in the methodology used for calculating visa data from the fiscal year 2019 onwards. The previous methodology was based on counting workload actions, which were not linked to individual applications. The updated methodology more accurately reflects the final outcomes of the visa application process within a specified reporting period.

The new approach tracks visa applications, including updates to their status, whether issued or refused, which may change as the fiscal year progresses. This could result in slight data changes for earlier years. As a result, starting from fiscal year 2020, individual monthly issuance reports should not be aggregated, as this will not provide an accurate issuance total for the fiscal year to date, the spokesperson explained.