Expecting US to consider visa requests of Indian students on merit: Govt

India on Thursday said it expects the US to consider visa applications of Indian students on merit amid growing concerns over the Trump administration halting new student visa interviews.

The changes effected by the US in its visa regime have triggered widespread uncertainty among students world-wide including in India.

"We saw some guidance coming from the United States on student visa matters," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.

"There we made a point that while it is a sovereign function, we expect and we hope that application of Indian students will be considered a merit, and they will be able to join their academic programs in the US on time," he said.

Jaiswal said the welfare of Indian students abroad remains of "utmost priority" of the government of India.

"While we note that issuance of visa is a sovereign function, we hope that the application of Indian students will be considered on merit," he said.

There have been concerns among the students planning to pursue studies in the US over the Trump administration's plan to expand social media vetting of student visa applicants.

Jaiswal said about 330,000 Indian students were in the US in 2023-24.

On Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri's ongoing visit to the US, Jaiswal said he met Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler to advance India-US cooperation in critical and emerging technologies.

Misri also led a delegation comprising the deputy NSA for the inter-agency discussions on India-US COMPACT (Catalysing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce and Technology) for the 21st century.

The initiative, aimed at driving transformative change across key pillars of cooperation, was launched following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with President Donald Trump in Washington DC in February.

This meeting focused on implementing the TRUST initiative, which again is about critical minerals and critical and emerging technology partnerships.

"They also discussed cooperation in the area of defence and energy domains, as well as strengthening the Quad, IMEC (India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor), I2U2 initiatives," Jaiswal said.

The I2U2 is a strategic grouping comprising India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and the US.

The foreign secretary also had a meeting with Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and they discussed all aspects of India-US relationship.

"In particular, they agreed that technology ' tech, trade and talent will shape the India-US partnership in the 21st century and they both reaffirmed commitment to further strengthening the India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership," Jaiswal said.

All issues of mutual interest were discussed between India and the US, he added.