A wave of student visa revocations and student-status terminations has spread across U.S. colleges and universities, leaving international students uncertain about their legal status and, in some cases, fearful of detention or forced departure. Reporting based on campus statements, correspondence with school officials, and court records found that at least 1,024 students at 160 colleges, universities, and university systems had visas revoked or legal status terminated since late March 2025, with higher estimates suggesting the true scope is larger.

Those figures appear to be a floor rather than a ceiling. The CEO of NAFSA, an association of international educators, said her organization’s reports from campuses suggested as many as 1,300 students had lost visas or had their status terminated. Other reporting, focusing specifically on SEVIS record actions, cited an estimate from the American Immigration Lawyers Association that more than 4,700 students had been deleted from SEVIS since January 20, 2025, as students and advocates began mounting court challenges.

Part of the discrepancy stems from the fact that universities, the public, and even some reporting often collapse two related but distinct government actions into a single story. One is visa revocation, a State Department action affecting the travel document used for entry to the United States. The other is termination of SEVIS records or student status, an action reflected in the DHS/ICE-SEVP system that governs a student’s “duration of status” while in the country. Counts can differ depending on whether they capture campus-discovered SEVIS changes, visa revocation notices, litigation disclosures, or cases identified through advocacy networks and school reporting.

Public statements by the administration have framed the measures as national-interest enforcement. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the State Department was revoking visas held by visitors acting counter to U.S. national interests, including some who protested Israel’s war in Gaza and others facing criminal charges. A House letter dated May 1, 2025 cited Rubio as saying on March 27 that visa revocations were happening daily and “might be more than 300 at this point,” underscoring the pace of action and the likelihood that publicly known numbers lagged behind the total.

At the same time, court filings and emergency orders have become a primary vehicle for understanding how students are being flagged and what process they receive—if any—before losing status. Students filed lawsuits in multiple states alleging denial of due process, and courts in several jurisdictions issued temporary restraining orders. In one federal order involving Rutgers students, SEVIS termination notices were described as citing, in part, an “Individual identified in criminal records check and/or has had their VISA revoked,” and the order noted that after suit was filed, defendants notified plaintiffs that SEVIS records had been restored or reactivated.

The administration later signaled at least a partial reversal. On April 25, 2025, reporting described the Trump administration saying it would restore foreign students’ legal status—for now—while developing a policy framework that would provide a clearer basis for ending status in the future. That “for now” posture has left many students in legal and practical limbo, particularly those whose schools discovered changes only after internal checks of SEVIS or after students encountered problems with employment authorization, travel plans, or routine compliance steps.

Civil-liberties concerns have centered on notice, transparency, and the ability to contest. Immigration lawyers said affected students often had not received notices to appear in immigration court, leaving them unsure what they were accused of and what procedural pathway—if any—was available to challenge terminations. A May 1, 2025 Senate Judiciary Committee letter urged agencies to undo actions it described as inconsistent with laws and guidance, and stated that SEVP had completed at least 4,736 total terminations of student visa holders’ SEVIS records, citing DHS data provided to congressional committees, while also arguing that DHS’s own position reflected limits on SEVP authority to terminate nonimmigrant status simply by terminating SEVIS records.

The practical risk for students can be immediate. Some schools advised students to leave the country to avoid detention or removal exposure, while other students stayed to contest terminations, often under time pressure and without clarity about the government’s asserted basis. With litigation ongoing, a policy framework under development, and congressional oversight intensifying, outcomes are likely to vary by jurisdiction and by how agencies implement any new rules governing SEVIS terminations and visa revocations.