A Record-Breaking 1,582,808 Foreign Students in 2024

New data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) shows that there were nearly 1.6 million foreign students in the United Sates in 2024.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has released the Student and Exchange Visitor Program 2024 annual report, which provides data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS). The DHS relies on this web-based system to manage information on foreign students and exchange visitors who “enter the United States temporarily and solely for the purpose of pursuing a full course of study or participating in a U.S. Department of State-designated program.”

This year’s report includes more information than was available during the Biden administration. Under Secretary Mayorkas, DHS did not include employer-related data related to the Optional Practical Training (OPT; guestworkers programs for ostensible “students”) or the data on employers under the J-1 visa program, which is administered by the State Department. These details — available during the first Trump administration — were left out under Mayorkas’s watch. Transparency has now returned, which is good news for those who seek to analyze and better understand immigration policies.

See the PDF of the full report here. Key data:

Foreign Student Trends

• 1,582,808 active F-1 and M-1 student records in calendar year 2024 — a 5.3 percent increase from 2023, and more than the population of Philadelphia.

  Active F-1 and M-1 Students

  Source: “SEVIS by the Numbers: Annual Report on International Student Trends”, ICE Homeland Security Investigations.

• The 5.3 percent increase in 2024 followed a 10.4 percent increase in 2023.

• The percentage of foreign students increased in all regions of the United States, with the largest growth in the South — an 8.5 percent increase, following a 13.4 percent increase in 2023.

  Percentage Growth of Foreign Students by Region

  Source: “SEVIS by the Numbers: Annual Report on International Student Trends”, ICE Homeland Security Investigations.

• There were eight schools that enrolled more than 15,000 foreign students (both F-1 (academic) and M-1 (vocational) foreign students combined) in 2024: New York University, Northeastern University, Columbia University, University of Southern California, Arizona State University, University of Illinois, Boston University, and Purdue University.

Country of Origin

• India continued to be the leading source of foreign students, with 422,335 student records — an 11.8 percent increase from 2023, following a 27.1 percent increase in 2022.
• China accounted for the second-largest number of foreign students, with 329,541 student records— a small decrease of 0.25 percent compared to 2023, when there was a 1.9 percent increase.
• Several countries on President Trump’s travel restriction list have foreign students enrolled, including: Iran (14,113 foreign students), Venezuela (4907 foreign students), Turkmenistan (1,189 foreign students, with a 43.0 percent increase compared to last year), Afghanistan (796 foreign students), Cuba (122 foreign students), and Yemen (412 foreign students).

Work Authorization

• 381,140 unique foreign student SEVIS records included work authorization through a form of practical training.
• 194,554 foreign students obtained work authorization through the one-year Optional Practical Training (OPT) program — a 21 percent increase.
• An additional 95,384 foreign students obtained work authorization through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) OPT which allows a two-year extension of regular OPT — a 54 percent increase.
• 130,586 foreign students obtained authorization for work ostensibly integral to their curriculum that took place prior to graduation through Curricular Practical Training (CPT) program — a 0.4 percent decrease.
• Countries accounting for the largest number of STEM OPT participants: India (79,331), China (33,807), South Korea (4,113), Nepal (3,752). (From additional data in the SEVP data library.)
• Top 25 companies employing foreign students on non-STEM OPT have numbers as high as 5,379 foreign students (Amazon) and University of California (2,112). The list includes nine universities.
• Top five companies employing foreign students on STEM OPT: Amazon (6,679), Google (1,778), Microsoft (1,496), Meta (1,302), and the University of California (1,302).

Further Reading:

”Sevis by the Numbers”

”Foreign Student Admissions: How Does It Work and What Are the Challenges?“

”Controversial DHS Program Allows Foreign Students to Train in Sensitive Fields: From nuclear engineering to undersea warfare, from cyber warfare to combat systems engineering, OPT presents a growing national security threat that must be addressed“

”The U.S. Foreign Student Program Is Becoming a Foreign Worker Program“

”Optional Practical Training: A Shadow Workforce with Minimal Oversight“

”A Troubling Lack of Transparency: Biden administration eliminates OPT employer data in newest SEVP report”