India edges past China to send more students to US in 2022: Report
Darpan News Desk IANS, 02 May, 2023 02:00 PM
New York, May 2 (IANS) International student enrollment in the US last year showed a substantial increase with India sending more students compared to China in 2022, says a US immigration report.
According to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's annual report, the number of students from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin.
"Comparable to the drop from calendar year 2020 to 2021, China sent fewer students in 2022 compared to 2021 (-24,796), while India sent more students (+64,300)," the report said.
In 2022, California hosted 225,173 international students -- the largest percentage of international students (16.5 per cent) of any US state, the report said, adding that all four regions in the country saw an increase in international student records from 2021 to 2022, with respective increases ranging from 8 to 11 per cent, the report said.
There were 276,723 active exchange visitors in the country in 2022, compared to 240,479 active exchange visitors in 2021 -- a 15 per cent increase.
The total number of SEVIS (Student and Exchange Visitor Information System) records for active F-1 and M-1 students was 1,362,157 in calendar year 2022 -- an increase of 10.1 per cent from calendar year 2021 and the largest number of records since calendar year 2019.
SEVIS is a web-based system that the Department of Homeland Security uses to maintain and manage information on non-immigrant students whose primary purpose for coming to the US is to study.
The number of international students enrolled at kindergarten through grade 12 (K12) schools increased 7.8 per cent from 2021 to 2022 (+3,887).
No K-12 schools hosted more than 700 international students in calendar year 2022, similar to calendar year 2021.
The report further said that there were 117,301 pre- and post-completion optional practical training (OPT) students with both an employment authorisation document (EAD) and who reported working for an employer in calendar year 2022, compared to 115,651 in calendar year 2021 a 1.4 per cent increase.
Two Covid-19-related deaths have also been reported in the same time span. The positivity rate of the city has risen to 13.79 per cent. The number of active cases stands at 806 out of which 452 patients are being treated in home isolation.
Lakhimpur Kheri Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Santosh Gupta, said that one staff member was also found Covid-positive during a contact tracing exercise on Sunday after which the entire campus has been turned into a quarantine centre by the Health department. This is the highest number of new Covid cases reported in a district in a day this year.
During thorough search of the area on Monday, BSF troops recovered six packets, containing 6.27 kg heroin, inside a bag lying in the fields near the village. A motorcycle was also found nearby.
According to the police, a 67-year-old man had filed a complaint with the cyber police station in Shahdara district wherein he alleged that on March 18, he had received a WhatsApp video call from an unknown number in which a girl was performing some obscene act.
The accused -- 19-year-old Rohit Kumar and 26-year-old Kamal -- are residents of Sitapur. During interrogation, Rohit told police that the truck driver Harpinder, 60, originally from Faridkot district, tried to harass him sexually under the influence of alcohol.
XBB 1.16 was first found in January. However, while only two samples were found then, the number rose to 138 in February, and in March till date total 204 samples of this variant have been found through genome sequencing. The highest number of cases of this variant have been found in Maharashtra at 105, followed by Telangana 93, Karnataka 57 and Gujarat 54 as per the data.
