Foreign student arrivals to the US have hit a decade low, excluding the pandemic
The United States is facing the most significant decline in international students entering the country in August since the pandemic, according to new data from the International Trade Administration .
The precipitous drop in international students — 19% — follows the Trump administration's series of steps to crack down on immigration and its attacks on international students at institutions such as Harvard University.
August is typically when most international students arrive in the U.S. because their visas allow entry up to 30 days before their program start date.
From August 2024 to August 2025, there has been a drop of over 70,000 international students coming into the U.S. That is the largest drop in the past ten years, outside of the pandemic.
The data from August 2025 is preliminary and includes all international students, both new and returning.
The preliminary data doesn't include people from Canada or those who arrived from Mexico by land, unlike the final data releases.
The reduction in international students was among those from India and China. There were 12,000 fewer students coming to the U.S. from China compared to August 2024, and over 33,000 fewer coming from India.
Those numbers are important because a significant portion of international students from China and India constitute the total foreign students in the U.S. Other notable declines came from students in Africa, with Ghana and Nigeria seeing the steepest drops.
One outlier was Europe, where the number of international students entering the U.S. largely stayed the same. Smaller declines were felt in South America and the Middle East, which had been on the decline before this year.
Trump administration's clampdown on international students
The reductions in students coming into the U.S. follow the Trump administration's clampdown on immigration, including through visas and travel bans.
Among the challenges students have been dealing with is the State Department's decision to pause the scheduling of visa interviews for international students in May. The federal government resumed processing weeks later, but only after adding rules vetting the social media of applicants.
The Trump administration has also instituted travel bans or restrictions in 19 countries, which are the primary source of the largest declines in international students entering the country, according to the data.
The federal government has also attempted to arrest, detain and deport international students and academics who engaged in pro-Palestine activism. A judge ruled in October that the Trump administration had violated their free speech.
The Department of Homeland Security announced plans in August to limit the length an international student can stay in the U.S.
Other actions have included the revocation of hundreds of student visas or their legal statuses before reinstating them again in April after facing multiple lawsuits and backlash.
Harvard has also been central to the fight between international students and the Trump administration. The university sued the Trump administration in May after the federal government revoked a key certification that allows Harvard's international students to study there. This followed President Donald Trump signing a proclamation barring Harvard's international students from entering the country. A federal judge backed Harvard in the case.
Trump also suggested a 15% cap on international students at Harvard during a conversation with reporters at the Oval Office in May.
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