Racial and Religious Disparities in Student Visa Rejections

• In Event: Racialization and Immigration Enforcement

Abstract

Visa cancellations during the second Trump administration have raised the salience of threats to international students, particularly those who are racial and religious minorities. Relatedly, a recent FOIA request of the U.S. government made available data highlighting the rejection rates for F-1 student visas in the United States since 2015. The data suggest that rejection rates vary widely across countries for students that have already been accepted to U.S. educational institutions. In particular, high rejection rates characterize countries in Africa and the Middle East while European countries have the lowest rates of rejection. This raises the possibility of discrimination in the review of student visa applications, according to factors such race and religion. The current study uses multiple regression to determine whether racial/religious gaps in visa refusal rates still exist after controlling for various economic, social, and political factors. We find that, compared to predominantly White countries, applications from predominantly Black, Muslim, Latinx, and Asian countries are 13, 8, 7, and 5.5 percentage points more likely to be rejected, respectively. Interaction analyses suggest that countries that are both predominantly Black and predominantly Muslim are even more likely to be rejected, by 26 percentage points compared to predominantly White countries. Interestingly, we do not find evidence that these gaps increased during the first Trump administration, despite his frequent attacks on non-White and Muslim immigrants, suggesting a more institutionalized understanding of these disparities. This has major implications for applicants from these countries as well as the future of higher education in the United States.

Authors

• Christopher Maggio, Mercy University

• Meaghan L Tomasiewicz, University of Illinois Chicago