Legal immigration is down

Legal immigration to the United States has fallen sharply since early 2025, with student visas and skilled-worker entries taking some of the biggest hits. (cato.org) David J. Bier of the Cato Institute wrote on April 13 that cuts to legal entries were about 2.5 times larger than the drop in illegal immigration on a monthly basis. Reporting on that analysis said student visas were down about 40% and H-1B visa approvals or issuances were down about 25% in recent comparisons. (cato.org, timesofindia.indiatimes.com) The shift reaches two of the main legal channels into the country: F-1 student visas for college and graduate study, and H-1B visas for specialty jobs that usually require at least a bachelor’s degree. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says the H-1B program covers fields including engineering, medicine, education, business, law and the arts. (uscis.gov) The squeeze has shown up on campuses as well as in hiring. Brown University’s student newspaper reported on April 22 that international students were still worried a year after visa revocations in 2025, after earlier reporting on April 10 and April 28, 2025 documented revoked visas for at least one Brown student and several recent graduates, followed by reinstatements in the federal student-tracking system. (browndailyherald.com, browndailyherald.com, browndailyherald.com) Brown said it has more than 2,700 international students and scholars. In its April 2025 coverage, the paper reported that university advisers were checking visa status several times a day, and a State Department spokesperson said revocations can follow information suggesting visa ineligibility or a public-safety concern. (browndailyherald.com, browndailyherald.com) The student side of the slowdown also appears in federal and higher-education data. The State Department’s visa statistics page publishes monthly nonimmigrant visa issuance data, and Inside Higher Ed reported on March 10 that new student visas issued ahead of the fall 2025 semester fell 35.6% after a temporary freeze in student visa interviews in spring 2025. (travel.state.gov, insidehighered.com) On the work-visa side, the rules changed too. A Department of Homeland Security final rule published in the Federal Register on December 29, 2025 replaced the random H-1B cap lottery with a weighted selection process that favors higher-paid and higher-skilled registrants, and USCIS says the rule took effect on February 27, 2026 for the fiscal 2027 registration season. (federalregister.gov, uscis.gov) That means the decline is not only about border enforcement. It also reflects tighter access to the legal systems universities use to enroll foreign students and employers use to hire skilled workers. (cato.org, uscis.gov) The next test will come with fall 2026 enrollment and the fiscal 2027 H-1B cycle. For now, the clearest sign is that the slowdown is showing up not only at the border, but in consulates, campus offices and employer visa filings. (insidehighered.com, uscis.gov, browndailyherald.com)