While Donald Trump’s tariff tantrums grabbed more headlines during his first 100 days in office, lakhs of Indian parents are anxiously looking at his administration’s hardline immigration enforcement and the next 100 days, when a fresh cohort of students will finalise their plans to study abroad.
The anxiety is triggered by the US federal government’s overzealous revocation of F-1 and M-1 student visas, mostly for protesting on campus or online. The National Association of Foreign Student Advisors reported that at least 1,400 students from over 200 colleges had their visa status changed by early April, two-fifths of them from India and China.
After facing dozens of legal challenges, the administration reversed many of the revocations in late April. But amid scant official communication, many Indians are still unsure about when they can join back the courses their families took large loans to fund.
Adding to the anxiety is a new bill introduced in the US Congress to terminate the Optional Practical Training programme, which allows students to stay back in the US and work for up to three years after their studies. Indian students, especially the majority studying STEM courses, often use this route to earn in dollars and work towards employment visas.
When the bill was introduced this March, Indian students in the US were already fewer by more than a fourth than in the previous March. If the bill emerges from the House judiciary committee’s scrutiny and lurches towards enactment anytime soon, the number of students will surely take a dive.
It’s not just Indians who are turning away from Trump’s America. The administration’s defunding of basic science research and gutting of diversity programmes have made the US increasingly unattractive to top talent. Three-fourths of the 1,600 scientists in the US recently polled by Nature said they were considering leaving for jobs in Europe, Canada and Asia.
The trend of Chinese scientists returning home from the US—a wave that nearly tripled between 2010 and 2021—has changed the global research landscape. India, where the number of fulltime researchers at government-funded institutes has fallen in recent years, must quickly absorb the lessons.
Meanwhile, keep your eyes on the next 100 days—before the new academic season commences in August—when judicial pronouncements and executive action are expected to outline what foreign students can do to keep their American dreams alive.