Indian students look for options as Trump steps up visa scrutiny

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Donald Trump administration’s imminent clampdown on visas and politically active American campuses could prompt Indian students and their parents to look at other destinations like Europe and Southeast Asia to pursue management programmes and courses outside tech disciplines. The acceptance of visas for students headed to the US for computer science, digital technologies and related areas will continue as these competencies will be in high demand in US, according to Narayanan Ramaswamy, partner and leader for education and skill development practice at consulting firm KPMG.

But not all subjects will be preferred, Ramaswamy told Mint. “Even in this (tech) domain, while visas for lower order skills like coding, maintenance, etc. could be limited, students who specialise in implementation of technologies such as AI, cloud, cyber security, etc.

and focus on strategic realignment of businesses due to these technologies will be in demand." In 2024, more than 260,000 Indian students went to the US in the 2022-2023 academic session, a 35% jump over the previous session. They typically go for higher studies to American institutions on the F1 and M1 visas for full-time and vocational courses, respectively. But while Trump is yet to reveal new visa rules, his key election rhetoric was to clamp down on illegal immigration and only allow select professionals to work in the US.