Rabeya Boshree looks at UCD students traveling to the US.
The United States has long been one of the most popular destinations for international students; even in the academic year 2023-2024 alone, more than 1.1 million international students were enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities, making it the largest host country for international higher education due to its academic reputation, research opportunities, and global influence. Recent data, however, suggests that this position is becoming less and less stable: early figures from the 2025-2026 academic year indicate a significant decline in new international student enrolments, with first year numbers dropping by approximately 17 percent compared to the previous year, a shift attributed to increasing uncertainty around visa processes, political rhetoric, and broader immigration policy by higher education organizations.
For students considering study in the United States, visa policy has become a growing concern, especially since in 2025, the U.S. government itself confirmed that thousands of student visas had been revoked as part of wider immigration enforcement efforts. At the same time, visa application procedures have become more restrictive, with enhanced background checks that include the review of social media and online activity, raising concerns about privacy and freedom of expression. Uncertainty further intensified when U.S. authorities temporarily paused new student visa interview appointments while updating screening procedures, and although interviews later resumed, the disruption caused delays for students with fixed academic start dates. The U.S. embassies have also emphasized that student visas are conditional and may be revoked if holders breach U.S. laws, reinforcing perceptions of legal vulnerability.
Beyond administrative changes, several high-profile cases involving foreign nationals have drawn international attention, highlighting the discretionary power of U.S. immigration authorities and further contributing to anxiety among international students. Turkish doctoral student, Rümeysa Öztürk, was detained in 2025 in correlation to her public support for Palestine and the co-authoring of an op-ed critical of Israel’s actions in Gaza; her case has raised concerns regarding free speech, academic freedom, and immigration policy in the United States. Despite such cases remaining relatively rare, they make the circumstances tense for prospective international students. Though, even with these challenges, international education remains economically vital to the United States where international students contribute tens of billions of dollars annually and support hundreds of thousands of jobs, leading universities to warn that declining international enrolment could have serious financial and academic consequences.
UCD Students to the US
The United States has long been a popular destination within UCD’s Study Abroad programme, with students travelling to American universities through established exchange agreements for many years; within each academic session, a cohort of UCD students apply for U.S. institutions, typically for a semester or academic year, across a range of partner institutions. According to UCD, there have been no widespread issues affecting UCD students in the United States in recent years, with students receiving pre-departure guidance on visas, travel requirements, and local laws as usual; UCD also maintains contact with partner universities to support student welfare. However, even UCD Abroad has noted increased student queries relating to visa security and safety, reflecting wider international concerns about U.S. immigration and political developments.
The University Observer reached out to UCD students heading to the US for second semester to hear what they had to say.
Due to the fact that a wide range of responses were not collected, the data, unfortunately, can not be labelled as representative of the situation—however, it is still a very strong indicator of the current circumstances and the growing student concerns. Of the four responses, all of the respondents agreed that they have fearfully engaged in some form of digital self-censorship, whether that be: being cautious about what kind of posts they interact with in social media; deleting previously posted materials online due to safety purposes. One of the students, wishing to remain anonymous, responded that they were wary about going to the U.S due to “recent events like the murder of Renee Good, increase in deportations, Venezuela-U.S., school shootings e.g. school shooting in Brown University, U.S. ties to Israel, [and] the Republican Party's response to Charlie Kirk's death.”
When asked about how their upcoming exchange was discussed in familial and social circles, all respondents described conversations with co-workers, friends and relatives who warned them and even suggested withdrawing applications because of the aforementioned incidents. While ultimately most students agreed that the host universities were welcoming and made the procedure less daunting, many agreed that the process of applying for temporary legal residency was difficult. Juliette, beginning an exchange programme with University of Richmond, stated that her visa was initially rejected due to surveillance of social media. Juliette further added, “This was very stressful as I wasn’t sure what the time frame was for pending approval. I couldn’t book flights or make any other plans before it was approved. I was lucky and got it approved within a couple of days.”
Another student, Martha McDonnell, heading to University of Vermont, mentioned that despite the university being welcoming, the moving process to the U.S. wasn’t easy and that with the number of different required documents, the embassy meeting was “honestly traumatic.” She further added, “I was left in the rain outside the embassy for 2 hours with no communication.”
While the university continues to monitor the situation and advise students accordingly, recent changes have impacted students to some degree, whether that be stricter immigrations, more paperwork or the political climate, making the future of study abroad in the U.S. less promising than before. However, whether that would be enough to change the long-standing legacy of exchange between UCD and U.S. institutions remains uncertain.