US visas issued to Korean students fall 10%

Does the Trump factor affect the number of international student visas? / Reuters

By Jung Min-ho

The number of F-1 visas issued to Korean students seeking to attend U.S. colleges decreased by nearly 10 percent last year.

Citing recent data by the U.S. Department of State, local media reported Thursday (KST) that 25,678 Korean students received the visa last year, a drop from 28,491 in 2016.

Among many factors driving the decline, observers mainly point to two reasons: stricter visa screening and a change in the political rhetoric on immigration under President Donald Trump.

“Will I be welcome here after graduation? This is one of the questions many would ask when people choose a country to study,” a woman who began her graduate program in Canada last year said.

And it is not just Korea. The number of F-1 visas issued for all foreign students decreased by 17 percent.

The biggest drop came from India ― from 65,257 to 47,302 in 2017. For Chinese students, the drop was 24 percent.

China and India are the U.S.'s top two sources of foreign students, followed by Korea, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

The worrying trend set many U.S. schools on edge as it started to undermine their potential for growth and hurt their revenue.