Two numbers now define the student visa landscape for Indian applicants — and neither is good news. In the United States, 61% of F-1 student visa applications from India were refused in 2025, the highest rate in a decade. In Canada, 74% of Indian study permit applications were refused in a single month, August 2025. Both figures are real, both are record highs, and both come with fine print that matters: the US number covers a full year, while the Canada number covers one month. Read together, they tell the same story — the two most popular study destinations for Indian students are both getting much harder to enter.
The US: 61% of Indian F-1 applications refused in 2025
The 61% figure comes from Beyond the Interview: A Decade of Student Visa Denials, a report published in April 2026 by Shorelight in partnership with the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. It is built on ten years of US Department of State data obtained through a public records request. That distinction matters: the State Department does not publish a country-by-country F-1 refusal table on its website, so this analysis — not an official government table — is the most complete public picture available.
The trend is steep. Indian F-1 refusals sat at 36% in 2023, jumped to 53% in 2024, and reached 61% in 2025. The global F-1 refusal rate hit 35% in 2025, the highest in a decade, up from 31% in 2024 and 23% in 2015. India is not an outlier in direction — refusals rose almost everywhere — but the scale is striking: for every 100 Indian students who applied, 61 were turned away.
The tightening has a clear timeline. On May 27, 2025, the State Department paused new interview scheduling for F, M and J visa applicants while it prepared expanded vetting procedures. Scheduling resumed between June 18 and 20, 2025, but with a new condition: applicants must set their social media profiles to public so consular officers can review them. Most Indian F-1 refusals are issued under Section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act — the officer was not convinced the applicant is a genuine student who will return home after studying.
The effect shows up in the visa counts. Only 12,776 F-1 visas were issued to Indian applicants between May and August 2025, compared with 41,336 in the same months of 2024. Indian student enrollment in the US fell from 378,787 in February 2025 to 352,644 in February 2026, a drop of 6.9%.
One number that should not be confused with the 61%: India’s B1/B2 visitor visa refusal rate was 22.04% in fiscal year 2025. That is the rate the State Department publishes directly — but it covers tourist and business visas, a completely different category from student visas.
Canada: 74% refused in August 2025
Canada’s figure comes from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) data shared with Reuters and reported on November 4, 2025. About 74% of study permit applications from India were refused in August 2025, up from around 32% in August 2023. Of roughly 16,000 Indian applications processed that month, only about 4,200 were approved.
The overall study permit refusal rate that month was around 40%, and Chinese applicants were refused at 24% — meaning Indian applicants faced the highest refusal rate of any country with more than 1,000 approved applicants. Applications have also collapsed: just 4,515 Indian students applied in August 2025, down from 20,900 in August 2023.
The crackdown has two drivers. Canada cut the number of study permits for the second consecutive year in early 2025 as part of a wider plan to reduce temporary migration. And it is policing fraud hard: in 2023, Canadian authorities uncovered nearly 1,550 study permit applications linked to fraudulent letters of acceptance, most of them from India, and an enhanced verification system flagged more than 14,000 potentially fraudulent documents in 2024.
A note on a figure you may see elsewhere: some coverage has cited refusal rates near 80% for Indian applicants in other periods of 2025. Those figures cover different months and are disputed — they are not the same August 2025 data, and they should not be combined with the 74% into a single “74–81%” rate.
What this means for applicants
The old playbook — apply to the US, and if that fails, try Canada — no longer works the way it used to. Both countries are refusing Indian student applications at record rates at the same time, and both are doing it for reasons that are structural, not temporary: tighter vetting in the US, caps and fraud enforcement in Canada.
That does not mean nobody gets in. More than a third of Indian F-1 applicants were still approved in 2025, and about a quarter of Indian study permit applications were approved in Canada in August 2025. But the margin for a weak application has shrunk. Applicants should check the official guidance before applying — the US State Department’s student visa pages and IRCC’s study permit pages on canada.ca — and treat any agent promising a guaranteed visa with suspicion.
For Indian students weighing their options, the Express Entry system remains the main skilled-worker route into Canada, though it has its own overhaul underway — read our coverage of the new Labour Market Integration Factor here: https://northchecknews.com/express-entry-crs-1270-november-3-2026/
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not immigration advice. Visa rules change frequently; always verify requirements on the official government website before applying.
Read next: Express Entry’s new points system is reshaping the other main route to Canada — https://northchecknews.com/express-entry-crs-1270-november-3-2026/
FAQ: F-1 visa rejection rate India
What is the F-1 visa rejection rate for Indian students in 2025?
61%, according to Shorelight’s Beyond the Interview report, based on US Department of State data obtained through a public records request. The rate rose from 36% in 2023 and 53% in 2024.
Is the 61% figure an official government number?
Not exactly. The State Department does not publish a country-by-country F-1 refusal table. The 61% comes from Shorelight’s analysis of State Department data — the most complete public picture available, but an analysis, not an official table.
What was Canada’s study permit refusal rate for Indian applicants?
About 74% in August 2025, according to IRCC data reported by Reuters — up from around 32% in August 2023. It is a single-month figure, not a full-year rate.
Why are student visa refusals rising?
In the US, expanded vetting including mandatory social media review and strict Section 214(b) decisions. In Canada, two consecutive years of study permit cuts plus a fraud crackdown after fake acceptance letters were uncovered.
Can I reapply after a student visa refusal?
In general, yes, in both countries — but a new application needs to address the reason for the refusal. Check the refusal letter and the official guidance on the State Department or IRCC website. This is general information, not personal immigration advice.
Sources: Shorelight, Beyond the Interview: A Decade of Student Visa Denials (April 2026); ICEF Monitor, “Visa rejections climb in the US for international students from key markets including India” (April 2026); Reuters, “Canada’s crackdown on student visas hits Indian applicants hard” (Nov 4, 2025), via The Hindu BusinessLine; Government of Canada, Guide 5269 — Applying for a Study Permit outside Canada