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Indian masters students' job prospects in US ‘dwindle’ amid Trump's stricter visa policies; ‘The worst affected are…’
With over 300,000 Indian students in US master's programs, hopes for employment are dwindling due to stricter immigration policies.
Several Indian students seek admission in American colleges in the hopes of getting the best education and eventually an opportunity to grab a high-profile job. However, it seems many Indian students would be compelled to return empty-handed as US President Donald Trump imposes stricter immigration and visa policies.
Taking to X on Monday, tech influencer “Deedy” Das summarized the dire circumstances by forecasting that the majority of the 150,000+ Indian students would not find employment in the United States.
In his post, Das further claimed that the number of Indian students pursuing master's degrees in the US has increased thrice in the last five years, reaching almost 300,000 at the present moment. The figure, which accounts for almost 81% of all Indian students in the nation, is twice the pre-pandemic highs.
“As discretionary wages have expanded in India, many companies have sprung up to help lower the barrier to entry for Indians to come to the US for their Master’s. Ten years ago it was approximately four times less. Master’s programs last one to two years — meaning approximately 150,000 to 200,000 students graduate this year, and most will be out looking for a job,” Das wrote.
Indian students to face several obstacles
In 2024, there were 4,22,335 Indian students actively registered in US colleges, as per an ICE data published in early June. According to an Open Doors research published in November 2024, Indian students outperformed their Chinese fellows for the first time in 15 years during the 2023–24 academic year.
The post cautioned that many of these graduating students will encounter enormous obstacles in their job search. Das said that education was no longer a viable route to the US and listed four main causes for the predicament. He pointed out that a large proportion of these students (about 70%) were pursuing degrees in computer science or engineering, and the majority had taken out loans to finance their academic aspirations.
Who are the worst affected?
Das mentioned that the US does not have enough tech jobs to satisfy the employment need. “For comparison, all of Microsoft has approximately 100,000 engineers…BigTech hiring has still not recovered.” Citing trends, he stated that recent graduates with no to two years of experience are the “worst affected”.
The social media post also highlighted the increasing shortage of visas as the Trump administration imposed strict restrictions on students and clamped down on immigration.
‘Visas are harder than ever before’
The US Department of Homeland Security's proposed changes are expected to make the application procedure more difficult as they would prevent students pursuing a Master's degree in the US from switching universities or courses. Additionally, the length of the visa and the OPT grace period will be restricted for international students.
“Visas are harder than ever before. The recently proposed rule for wage-based H-1B visas means fewer jobs will qualify. Add to that the four year F-1 cap…means Day 1 CPT will no longer allow you to stay beyond the three years of OPT if you don’t get into the lottery. Credible rumors signal that visas at least in this administration will continue to get harder,” Das noted.
