Indian students admitted to US universities are struggling to secure visa appointments, creating uncertainty and anxiety ahead of the start of the academic year in August and September – a situation that many describe as worse than in recent years when visa appointments were constantly backlogged.
Education consultants and applicants say those who applied for visas after April faced severe difficulties getting appointments.
“Students are not getting appointments,” said Mrinalini Batra, who leads International Education Exchange, an education consultancy. “I don’t know what people will do because this year is unprecedented. In previous years, they came up with emergency appointments for this. But I have not heard this yet and today is July 17.”
According to Batra, applicants seeking appointments after April faced the toughest hurdles.
Read also | A new American rule limits the duration of foreign student visas to four years, and reduces the grace period by half
The crisis gained widespread attention on Thursday when an Indian law student from Kerala, who said she received a 90% admission and scholarship offer from Harvard Law School, shared her inability to book a visa slot on the social media platform X.
Parents face similar delays. “We’ve been trying for over a month to schedule appointments. We got the I-20 on time from the US university my son chose, and everything was going well. But there are no visa slots available at all. The soonest coming now is somewhere in September and October. But colleges start around mid-August and we don’t have anything here,” said the father of a student hoping to attend the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC).
Applying for a US F-1 visa requires applicants to submit what is known as an I-20 document which is provided by universities once an offer of admission has been accepted. While admissions processes begin by December, they can extend into March and April – leaving many with no choice but to apply then.
Education consultants attribute the delay to the Covid-19 pandemic, which has led to a huge backlog in visas for Indian visitors and students. In previous years, emergency appointments granted by the US Embassy in New Delhi helped ease the pressure.
Read also | India is cooperating with the US on stricter visa rules affecting Indian students and visitors
The US Embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The fact that there are no slots this year is something really new. Earlier, they launched slots and I haven’t heard of anyone who didn’t go last year because they didn’t get a slot. They didn’t go because they didn’t get a visa. Now there are a couple of students I know who are waiting, and if they don’t get appointments by the end of this month, I think they will choose to go to either Singapore or the UK, assuming they get those visas,” Batra said.
Parents indicated that they contacted American institutions directly regarding the bottleneck. In one case, a university offered to defer a student’s admission for the spring semester, which begins in January.
The visa delays add to growing concerns among Indian families regarding higher education in the United States, along with concerns about growing anti-immigrant sentiment and racism. Policy shifts – including the end of “status term” student visas in favor of four-year fixed visas, as well as mandatory social media background checks – have also signaled a tougher environment for international students.
Read also | New US Visa Policy Limits Duration for Foreign Students: What Indian Candidates Should Know
Nearly 60% of U.S. universities reported a decline in international student applications for the 2025-2026 academic year, Institute of International Education data shows.
