India, Oct. 7 -- "I have never seen anything like this in 30 years," says Mrinalini Batra, a higher studies counsellor who has helped dozens of Indian students find their way into America's most prestigious universities.

Batra is referring to a slew of measures enacted by the US President Donald Trump administration in recent months, from time-limiting foreign student visas and hiking H1B visa fees to demanding a 15% cap on international students at US universities. Taken together, the measures seem to mark a concerted effort to restrict the number of foreign students entering America.

According to data provided by the US government's International Trade Administration, the number of Indians arriving in America on student visas fell by ...