The United States is losing ground in the competition for international students, with education agents reporting weak perceptions of the country as safe, welcoming and attractive compared with other major study destinations, according to the latest Navitas Agent Perception Survey.
The decline comes against a backdrop of tighter US visa scrutiny and changes in visa procedures. Student and exchange visitor visa applicants are subject to online-presence reviews, while most nonimmigrant visa applicants generally require an in-person interview. These changes do not establish the reason for the fall in perception, but provide policy context at a time when the survey shows students are placing greater weight on visa certainty when deciding where to study.
