India, the country that sends more students to the US than any other, young people who had hoped to pursue higher education in America this fall described feeling in a state of limbo after the Trump administration’s decision to pause interviews with foreign nationals applying for student visas.Some are scrubbing their feeds, deleting comments and unfollowing accounts after the state department said that it would screen social media use. Others are exchanging news and information in newly formed encrypted group chats. And some have sought divine aid in “visa temples” – so called because Hindu devotees say prayers there provide a greater chance of getting a tourist, study or work visa.Career counsellors have become therapists, and the extended family networks that many Indians have in America, have set up war rooms online. Other students are revisiting their backup plans or rethinking their academic paths.“I have carefully built my profile to be able to get into the top policy programs in the US,” said Kaushik Sharma, 28. He called it his “dream” to study in America but added that the current environment was making him nervous about applying. “I don’t want to go there and be in a constant state of fear,” he said. He is now considering similar public policy programs at universities in Britain and Singapore, he added.Karan Gupta, a career counsellor said he had been inundated by calls in the past few days. “There are students with admission letters who don’t know if they will get visa appointments, and those in the US worried about their visa status. He tried to reassure clients that, statistically, it was unlikely that most students’ plans would be upended,” he added.A third of the foreign students in US schools, or around 330,000, are from India. The number has grown, surpassing China in the 2023-24 school year.The trouble began on May 22, when the Trump administration said it would ban Harvard University from enrolling international students. Five days later, the state department said it would pause interviews with foreign nationals applying for student visas as it expands scrutiny of their social media posts.Although a judge has blocked the administration’s step against Harvard, and the state department has said that student interviews scheduled before its order would proceed.American universities have produced leaders like Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft; and Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, both of whom grew up in India and attended US graduate programs. Gita Gopinath, the second in command at the IMF; and Abhijit Banerjee, a Nobel-winning economist and a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were also initially educated in India.
