Students of Indian origin are traveling in higher numbers than ever before to pursue higher education abroad. In 2006, of the 123,000 studying outside India, 76,000 have chosen USA as a country of their choice followed by UK. Canada and UK are also other major countries in the world and is one of the safest countries for Indian students. The US receives more Indian students than any other country in the world overtaking China in 2001
The number of students studying in USA has gone up 94,563 to 103,260 in 2010–11. Most of the students choose either east coast or mid-west as their destination in US
Speaking to The Times of India, Carol Cox, acting non-immigrant visa chief at the consulate general of the United States of America in Chennai, said, “Indian students are our largest group of international students. In the fiscal year 2007, we issued 50,000 student visas. The seven months of the cur-rent fiscal year has seen a 38% increase.”
She said students from southern India opt for technology-based courses and most applicants are from Andhra Pradesh. These students usually opt for master’s programmes, and those from Tamil Nadu want to pursue information technol-ogy courses.
In the ongoing year, 24,422 student visas have been issued at the Chennai consulate, Carol said, adding that most students usually opted for universities on the east coast or in the mid-west.
Wesley W Robertson, consul, press and information affairs, cautioned students against frauds and people demanding
fees for information on universities.
“Please do not pay consult-ants, visa brokers and touts, fees for information on studying in the US. Any student wanting to go to there is most welcome to meet the student counselors at the consulate or log on to www.fulbright-india.org. All the information is free and our doors are open so people should be cautious of visa brokers,” Robertson said.
Robertson also talked about the anti-fraud section of the con-sulate discovering dubious student visa applications. “It makes sense and is easier to deal with the consulate directly,” he said.