This trend is a quiet but deliberate form of academic apartheid — a discriminatory system masked as policy reform, designed to include some and exclude others.
Published Jun 04, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jun 04, 2025 | 9:00 AM
British universities — once heavily reliant on Indian student fees to stay afloat — are now reeling, caught between government pressure and looming financial crises.
Synopsis: In the U.S., student visa allocations have already dropped by 11%, while in Canada, study permits issued to Indian nationals plummeted by a staggering 31%. In the UK, approximately 58,000 Indian nationals — who had come to the country to study, work, or join family — left in 2024 alone.
Turn on the television, flip through the newspapers, or walk down any street in Kerala, and you’re inundated with glossy advertisements promising a bright future through foreign education. But how truthful are these promises, especially as Western countries move to tighten student visa rules?
The dream of studying abroad — once sold as a gateway to global exposure, career advancement, and long-term settlement — is rapidly becoming a mirage. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and now the United States are erecting new barriers, closing doors through shifting immigration policies and thinly veiled xenophobia.
What was once a world of opportunity has shrunk into a hostile labyrinth of bureaucracy and political maneuvering. The message is clear: Indian students are no longer as welcome as they once were.
Let’s start with the United States. Long hailed as the land of opportunity, it is once again tightening restrictions on international students — this time by targeting their social media activity. A recent directive under President Donald J. Trump’s administration has instructed US embassies to suspend new student and exchange visa interview appointments, pending an expansion of social media screening and vetting procedures.
“Effective immediately,” a diplomatic cable reportedly states, “consular sections should not add any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.”
First revealed by Politico, the order reflects yet another escalation in the politicization of immigration policy—this time using the digital footprints of students as a new frontier for surveillance.
Social media vetting has been officially required since 2019, but under Trump, it is being weaponized.
We’ve seen this playbook before. Earlier this year, Harvard’s authorisation to enrol foreign students was abruptly revoked, and thousands of international students had their visas cancelled—many without warning, only for the decision to be reversed following public backlash. Now, the administration is cracking down again, linking student activism to security threats.
Unfortunately, the consequences will be far-reaching. With visa appointment wait times already stretching from weeks to months, more intense vetting will only deepen delays. More than a million international students enrolled in US institutions in 2023–2024. That number has already dropped 11% in the past year. Trump’s second act could accelerate that decline—and the damage to America’s global reputation will be hard to reverse.
In short, this isn’t about national security. It’s about power, control, and punishing those who dare to speak up. The message is clear: You’re welcome in America, but only if you stay quiet. For international students dreaming of studying in the US, that dream is increasingly under surveillance.
Now, let’s look at what’s happening in Canada. Under Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership, the country has taken a sharp inward turn — and Indian students are bearing the brunt.
In the first quarter of 2025, the number of study permits issued to Indian nationals fell by a staggering 31% compared to the same period last year — dropping from 44,295 to 30,640, according to new data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC). This isn’t a statistical anomaly; it’s a policy-driven decline, the result of deliberate efforts to reduce the number of temporary residents — international students included.
Carney’s government has pledged to cap temporary residents at 5% of Canada’s population by 2027. As part of this strategy, the student visa cap for 2025 has been reduced to 437,000, down from 485,000 in 2024. Financial requirements have also doubled — applicants must now show proof of access to CA $20,635 (₹12.7 lakh), up from CA $10,000 — making it harder for middle-class Indian families to qualify.
Meanwhile, a new verification system for acceptance letters has added layers of red tape for both educational institutions and applicants, leading to widespread delays, document rejections, and growing uncertainty.
Now, let’s turn to Europe. The United Kingdom has taken an even more unapologetic stance. Under Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the Labour government is pulling the country away from the era of internationalisation.
According to the UK Office for National Statistics, around 58,000 Indian nationals — who had come to the UK to study, work, or join family — left the country in 2024 alone. This marks a dramatic reversal and an exodus not seen in recent years.
And it’s no accident. The Labour government has openly celebrated the decline in net migration, which dropped by a staggering 431,000 last year — nearly halved — with Indian nationals among the most affected. The most common reason for departure? The expiration of student and dependent visas. Study-related emigration now leads the trend in migration reduction.
British universities — once heavily reliant on Indian student fees to stay afloat — are now reeling, caught between government pressure and looming financial crises. Yet their warnings remain subdued, as the political establishment prioritises nationalist optics over educational equity.
Caught in the crosshairs of a global migration backlash, Indian students are becoming collateral damage in a broader political war. Western governments, under pressure to “take back control” of borders, are shutting out the very students who helped sustain their economies during crises — especially post-pandemic, when international tuition revenue kept universities afloat.
These are not mere bureaucratic shifts; they are deeply political moves that disproportionately affect students from the Global South. While the West talks of “diversity” and “inclusion,” it builds barriers that block the most basic form of exchange — education.
What we’re witnessing is a deliberate narrowing of opportunities for Indian students. The message is clear: “We’ll take your money, not your presence.” Indian students are no longer seen as partners in a global academic community, but as expendable cash cows whose welcome has worn thin.
India must recognise this moment for what it is and stop romanticising the West as the only path to academic success. Instead, it should reinvest in its higher education — not just through infrastructure, but by building strong research ecosystems, encouraging global faculty exchange, and enabling student mobility within Asia and the Global South. Bilateral agreements must secure better terms for educational access to protect students from sudden policy shifts.
Above all, India must name this trend for what it is: A quiet but deliberate form of academic apartheid — a discriminatory system masked as policy reform, designed to include some and exclude others.
The era of open doors is over. What remains is a fortress mentality — and Indian students are being left outside the gates.
(Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist, labour migration expert, forced labour investigator and author of Undocumented- Penguin 2021. Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
