Scott's American Students First Act Will Cap Foreign Student Visas

Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) recently introduced the American Students First Act, which would limit the number of foreign student visas available to prioritize native-born American students. 

The Act would limit the number of foreign students enrolled in American universities with F and M visas under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) at 10% of a school's total student body.

Universities would have a potential waiver opportunity to increase enrollment to 15% for national security reasons.

Senator Scott argued that the US’s foreign adversaries have manipulated America’s generous foreign student visa program to undermine the US’s national security. 

“We have seen our nation’s adversaries like Communist China use student visas to send members of the Communist Party into the United States as a tool to conduct espionage, intellectual property theft, and recently bring toxic biological pathogens into our nation,” argued Scott.

Scott’s measure continues a trend of Republican initiatives tightening the screws around the US’s student visa programs since pro-Palestine campus protests erupted nationwide in response to the Israel-Hamas war. 

State Secretary Marco Rubio, a long-time proponent of revoking student visas for those whom the US government deems are undermining its national interests, is leading the efforts. 

In late March, Secretary Rubio confirmed he had revoked the visas of hundreds of students participating in antisemitic riots across American University campuses. 

Rubio promised to continue revoking visas until “we’ve gotten rid of all” terrorist sympathizers. 

However, visa restrictions for foreign students did not stop at terrorist sympathizers. 

Recently, Rubio also announced that he will begin to expel or revoke the visas of Chinese students studying at U.S. colleges and universities.

According to SEVP reports, there are over 1.5 million foreign students currently enrolled in American universities. 

Florida is one of the states with the most international students (91,108), topped only by Massachusetts, New York, California, and Texas. 

In 2024, foreign student enrollment increased by over 5%, with China and India being the most popular countries of origin for foreign students. 

Chinese and Indian students account for over 400 and 300 thousand, respectively, of the total foreign student population in the US.