Immigration and Customers Enforcement (ICE) Releases 2021 SEVP Annual Report

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released its 2021 Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) annual report. The report highlights calendar year 2021 data from the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), a web-based system that includes information about international students, exchange visitors, and dependents while they are in the United States.

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted international student enrollment in the United States in 2021. The total number of SEVIS records for active F-1 and M-1 students was 1,236,748 in calendar year 2021, a decrease of 1.2 percent from calendar year 2020. Only Asia and Australia/Pacific Islands saw an overall decline in the number of students coming to the United States last year; all other continents saw an increase. International F-1 and M-1 students came from every continent in the world other than Antarctica, and from more than 224 countries and territories. Students from China and India made Asia the most popular continent of origin, accounted for 71.9 percent of the international student population.