Student and Exchange Visitor Visa Numbers

USCIS has released some numbers about the student and exchange visitor visa programs.  As of December 31, 2008, there were 1,046,468 active nonimmigrant students, exchange visitors and their dependents.  Out of this number, there were a total of 722,272 active F or M students and 94,027 dependents.  There were 179,408 J-1 exchange visitors and 50,761 J-2 dependents.

Among the countries with the highest number of foreign students, South Korea leads the list with 110,083 students, India is second with slightly below 100,000 students and China is a close third with approximately 90,000.   The leading major continues to be Business with 145,873 international students, followed by Engineering.