Active International Students in the U.S. Fall by More Than 90,000 in a Year: SEVIS Count Drops to 1.19 Million, Indian Students Down 13.5%
The latest monthly data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), released in early November, show 1,192,572 active international students in the United States in October 2026, down 90,668, or about 7.1 percent, from 1,283,240 in October 2025. India remained the largest source of international students, followed by China.
Indian students fell by 49,365, from 366,258 to 316,893, a drop of 13.5 percent, and their share of all international students eased from about 28.5 percent to 26.6 percent. Chinese students fell 10.2 percent, from 245,038 to 220,157. Nepali students declined from 35,273 to 33,992.
Among Indian students, the steepest fall was at the master's level, down about 20 percent from 292,929 to 234,034; bachelor's enrollment eased from 38,522 to 36,011; doctoral enrollment rose against the trend, from 28,609 to 41,729. Indian students included 195,341 men and 121,552 women.
SEVIS records are a monthly snapshot of students with active status in the system, including those on Optional Practical Training (OPT), rather than a cumulative annual total. The decline comes amid tighter student-visa scrutiny in the United States and a proposal to charge new fees for OPT. The nonprofit network Indiaspora said on October 30 that the number of Indian students going to the United States for study is declining.
（Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security）
Source: U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约 Columbia University 校园（资料图）。Beyond My Ken 摄，CC BY-SA 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Columbia University campus in New York (file photo). Photo by Beyond My Ken, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
