Over half of the international students studying in the US are from India and China. While most Indian students studying there are keen to take up jobs in the US, a large chunk of Chinese students want to go back home, they said.
Chinese students want to be studying at the absolute top-ranked 100 or so programs, as this decides what cities they will live and work once back home – tier-1 cities like Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, or tier-2 cities like Chengdu, Hangzhou, etc, according to Akshay Chaturvedi, chief executive of study abroad platform LeverageEdu.
“This combination, of where they go and what they want to do after, is aligned with what the homeland security/Trump administration is saying right now,” Chaturvedi said.
India, in recent weeks, has faced several strict measures from the US, ranging from heavy tariffs and restrictions on visas and immigration. In comparison, Trump seems to have taken a much softer stance on China.
While the US visa regulations apply equally to all international students, the proposed move to cut visa duration is set to make the US less appealing to Indian students.
In comparison, Chinese students at the undergraduate level often have stronger institutional pipelines and family funding, which cushions them from immediate visa or job market worries, noted Adarsh Khandelwal, cofounder of Collegify.
Also, at the postgraduate level, Chinese students dominate in funded PhD and research-heavy STEM programmes, where assistantships cover tuition and living costs.
“Indian students, by contrast, are concentrated in self-funded master’s programs, where return on investment depends heavily on post-study work opportunities,” Khandelwal said.
This makes them rely more on OPT (optional practical training), which allows students to work in their field of study in the US up to 12 months after their studies, with STEM graduates eligible for a 24-month extension, after which many transition to an H-1B work visa through employer sponsorship.
“Any potential changes in H-1B or OPT policies would not impact the Chinese students as these categories are more in demand among Indian students,” said Piyush Kumar, regional director, South Asia, Canada and Latin America, at IDP.
These study abroad experts see the US taking a softer stance on students coming from China than India.
“Trump recently made a specific comment welcoming Chinese students to the US universities,” Kumar said.
Keshav Singhania, head – private client at law firm Singhania & Co, said, “The Trump administration is attempting to narrow down this pathway, as evidenced by the coming up of tariffs, stricter visa rules, and rhetoric branding the H-1B visa as a ‘scam’.”
As a result, in the past few months, study abroad consultants have seen many Indian students, especially non-STEM ones, opt for Germany, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand instead of the US.
For STEM courses, the US still remains a strong bet for Indians.
“Many pursuing non-STEM courses have opted to study in countries like the UK and Germany as universities here are actively improving their support for international students,” said Sonal Kapoor, global chief business officer at fintech study abroad platform Prodigy Finance.
“The proposed rule is to curb student visa overstay by replacing the flexible ‘duration of status’ model with fixed-term visas, typically capped at up to four years for students,” she said.
Indian students seeking post-graduate employment will face a stricter regulatory environment in the US.
“This proposal doesn’t specify OPT rules but states that four years is the maximum. It doesn’t talk about OPT for undergraduate studies,” said Naveen Chopra, founder chairman of study abroad platform The Chopras Group. “The lack of interview slots was already a dampener, and now this will reflect on the spring intake,” he said.
According to Singhania, the proposed changes will introduce new challenges for international students, exchange workers, and foreign journalists. “They would now have to apply to extend their stay in the US rather than maintaining a more flexible legal status,” he said.
Many Indian students pursue master’s and PhDs in the US and transition to the H-1B visa system through the OPT programme.